continues to play a major role in the aftermath of the quake and tsunami. thanks for that. andrew? well, randi, as we probably know that japan is one of the most wide nations in the world and much of the fury of the quake is evident. [ male announcer ] springtime belongs to the doers. those of us who know grass doesn t turn green just because the calendar says to.
limited at of radioactivity has come out. some of the reports i ve seen have indicated something like 620 millirims in an hour. that s about the radiation you get in a year. and that s in one hour? that s the report we have right now. we saw some video and have video of the explosion as it happened. and you can see these big white plumes of smoke. is that aleft arming to you? and where is that going and how quickly can something like that travel? my japanese friends in the middle of the night called me and told me things were deteriorating some. when you see that cloud coming out of there, you have the idea that s coming out of the nuclear reactor. apparently it was not a
you ve been speaking with the people you know in japan. you ve been in touch with them quite a bit about this. did you learn anything that you can share with us that might be new? yes, i worked closely with japanese emergency management. and including one that s in the control room there, the number one reactor. and they were concerned about a uncovering a part of the core at one point. and that s a disturbing development. this is kind of the critical period. they should be able to control this if they can keep that core covered. it has to have water around it to take the heat away. when the core got uncovered, that s when they had a meltdown. and this one we re getting conflicting reports. some say they think part of their core is melting a little, others say no. and the prime minister coming out just today saying not to be concerned, nobody s been affected. yeah. you re shaking your head? i m not certain about that. but i we don t right now, a
we have an earthquake right now. and this is actually moving. you see the cracks moving? the crack is just moving. there s water, i don t know if water lines are broken, but this water was not there a minute ago. communities, towns, neighborhoods literally splitting apart. that is such an amazing image. unreal. we have been getting some really unforgettable images out of japan s disaster zone. some of the most haunting have been from the very first moments of the catastrophe, like that one. and listen to the terror and disbelief of this cnn i-reporter as he realizes this is no ordinary earthquake. oh, my god! that is the biggest earthquake to date.