Biga Quake News Today

You heard a moment ago from janie, her husband was inside one of the crippled power plants. more details on how serious the problems are right you with jean me serve. whats the latest? >> reporter: reports are that at one plant there are elevated temperatures. at the other plant, radiation levels are up. but according to the kyoto news agency, eight times the normal level at a monitoring station outside the plant. 1,000 times above normal in a control room inside the plant. heres what happens. t...

Sesay. >> isha, thanks and safe travels. up next, what made this quake so punishing and how do tsunamis form? details from a leading seismologist. and minute by minute as the wave of destruction went mile after mile inland. >> the tsunami has already engulfed some cities, fires breaking out due to the earthquake in north eastern japan, tsunami waves of over four meters were observed.

The scale of the devastation that has occurred. you see there cars tossed in amongst -- it looks like one big trash heap. but this is an area devastated by the force of nature. everything that stood in the path of the tsunami, of the results -- was the result of the quake and essentially battered and left in pieces. japan is prone to earthquakes because of its unique geological position. it sits on top of three major tectonic plates. one scientist is warning despite what happened, japan is still...

Blankets, because some of them didnt even have clothes or shoes. when you actually talked to him, where was he? >> he was outside of the hotel. he said they were going for higher ground. the ground was still shaking. they had -- sounded like a smaller van is what they were leaving in. so they were going to higher ground to get -- because they could hear the wind starting to blow. they felt like the water, the wave was coming back. then the rumbling sound, i could hear it over the phone so loud. ...

Station reactors with serious cooling problems, pressure building, reports of radiation venting at two of them. well stalk to a woman whose husband was in the plant. all the result of the fifth largest recorded quake in history, followed by this wave turning everything in its path into rubble. this is what it looked like. you can see its not just seawater. theres debris, cars, trucks, houses being swept alone, battering everything in its path. the tsunami reaching the west coast where several pe...

>> he was outside of the hotel. he said they were going for higher ground. the ground was still shaking. they had -- sounded like a smaller van is what they were leaving in. so they were going to higher ground to get -- because they could hear the wind starting to blow. they felt like the water, the wave was coming back. then the rumbling sound, i could hear it over the phone so loud. he said its another quake, and it just kept roaring. he said the ground was shaking under my feet. >> what a lot...

Erupted 45 days later. thats how long its been since that big a quake in japan. isha? >> chad myers, thank you. i want to bring in jim garrity, a seismologist at columbia university. thanks for joining us. chad talked a little bit about how tsunamis are created. talk to us a little bit more about that, and the system thats in place to detect these things before they hit. >> sure. so in general tsunamis are created when we have these earthquakes that occur predominantly earthquakes that occur in ...

Vent. a spoke with janie eudy. her husband, danny, works at the plant and is now missing and the scene he described was terrifying. when was the last time you talked to your husband, danny? >> that was at 6:47 this morning our time. >> no word from him since that time? >> no, not a word. ive been sitting by the phone patiently waiting to hear from him. the 12-hour time is up. i was looking to maybe get a call, if they could get any type of communication at daybreak. but nothing. nothing yet. >> ...

And thats causing a pressure buildup inside the core, making it necessary to vent radioactive steam. i spoke to a woman named janie udi. her husband, danny, works at the plant. she got one call from him but lost contact. when was the last time you talked to your husband, danny? >> that was at 6:47 this morning our time. >> no word from him since that time? >> no, not a word. ive been sitting by the phone patiently waiting to hear from him. the 12-hour time is up. i was looking to maybe get a cal...

Position accurately of each of those sites. so theyre trying to analyze that data right now that the amount of displacement that the surface itself went in response to the earthquake itself. i think some initial reports i heard today were actually from many tens of kilometers away, there were meters of dispoli displacement. >> all right, thank you. >> my thanks to you both. now there are some truly amazing sights and sounds of the quake and the tsunami right as they were happening. people grab...