we're go glad you are with us on this very busy monday morning. hi, everybody i'm jenna lee? i'm jon scott. "happening now" a new explosion at a japanese nuclear power plant raises fears of an all out meltdown. the fallout from that could reach across the pacific affectth west coast of the u.s. more powerful after shocks rocked japan today. a thousand bodies wash ashore on the devastated northeast coast of the country. raising the death toll officially now lis listed as tad 9.0 and the tsunami that hit just half wards. the details get worse by the day. >> reporter: absolutely. it's completely unbelievable. every day i go out it gets worse than the day before. i went down by the airport which was hit by the tsunami on friday afternoon. the military here are walking through the fields picking up body parts from the culverts and amongst the rice paddies. it's appalling. jon: just the rebuilding, even the cleaning up has to be so badly affected by the fact that there is so little power, so little fuel, so little working machinery. >> reporter: absolutely. the military are doing wall they can. a lot of the emergency services are coming in from other parts of the country. but it really is a drop in the ocean. the area that has been affected by this i this is colossal. you can drive for miles and see devastated houses, cars are upside down, factories, everything is wrecked and it's going to take years for japan and this part of japan in particular to recover from this. jon: i know i'm always struck with how stoic and unfail link lee polite the japanese people are, even in times like this. what is the overall attitude right now? >> reporter: it's remarkable. they aren't exactly stoic, they put on a brave face, they try and go about their lives as much as possible. monday morning there were people walking through central sendai going to work in suits and tie like it was just another monday morning, let alone what happened over the weekend. the story obviously in the worst affected areas is very, very different. we spent much of the afternoon there today. people are picking through the remains of their homes. there were families cycling back from where their homes had once stood with pitiful remnants of their lives. there was one lad with an electric guitar smeared in mud. a little girl with a couple of dolls in the basket on the frowned of a bicycle. it's tragic. jon: after the quake itself did the people of sendai have any kind of warning about the possibility or probability of this tsunami? >> reporter: yes, they did. there was a tsunami warning. it was a couple of minutes, again people i spoke to today they felt the quake initially wanted to return home but then they got the warning of a tsunami. they lived in a low-lying area, and they said to me today that they were very glad they didn't go home, because when they did go back there was nothing left. instead of a car on their front drive they had a rail rain train that they don't know where it came from, because the nearest line is three kilometers away. that is the scale of devastation we are talking about. jon: live from sendai japan, it is just unbelievable these images. julian, thank you. jenna: those images certainly are. another angle to this story is the business side. japan is a major player in the global economy, it's the third largest economy in the entire world. there are as expected some ripple effects not only to our country but again the world economy overall. eric bolling is here from fox business. when you're looking at this big story and there are so many different sides to it what is the first thing you think about when you think about the effect affects. >> the first thing we saw we saw a 6% drop in japanese stocks overnight. we were expecting that. we wanted to see what the spill over would be at least in the stock market here we are down about 95 points right now. there are different sectors that are getting hit harder. the nuclear power generation sector is getting hit hard, the people who put together these reactors. ge is down half a buck on a $20 stock. jenna: is that in the expectation that people will be more hesitant tho go ahead with nuclear energy. >> we had joe lieberman saying we should put the brakes on going ahead with nuclear energy. which is a big mays take to say this event should stop what we are doing here. look what happened. a 9.0 earthquake, a tsunami followed. it changed the earth's rotation and changed the coastline of japan by 13 feet yet the containment in still intact. i'll say it again, western civilization has never had a single death due to radiation leak. okay. it's still the safest the cleanest and the cheapest form of power generation. jenna: we talk a lot about oil prices, that's been a big story considering what is happening in the mideast, but it's also a story that we look at when anything impacts energy sector. do you see any reaction in the oil markets overall? >> sure, japan imports almost a hundred percent of their oil. they don't produce much oil on the mainland. when a country that is dependent on oil has a disaster like that consumption goes down, so the prices are lowering. if this happened in iraq prices would be skyrocketing. prices of natural oil are going down. natural gas rise prices are moving up. a lot of the power generation if it isn't nuclear, people are speculating this may turn everything awa back to tpharl gasaway from nuclear. jon: fox news alert kennedy space center where a nasa worker just fell from the launch bad to his death. no word yet on the identity of the man. nasa is suspending work on launch pad 39a for the rest of the day. also, beginning an investigation into what happened that led to this worker's death. also this fox news alert, the clock is ticking down to a government shut down potentially. also, japan has provided 230,000 units of stable iodine to evacuation centers as a precautionary measure in that country's nuclear emergency, this according to the u.n. atomic watchdog. about 200,000 people have been evacuated from around that nuclear plant where are fears of more radiation leaks. so with the clock ticking down to the possibility of a government shut down lawmakers have just days to come up with a deal on federal funding. chief political correspondent carl cameron is keeping an eye on that. he's live in the capitol building. the shut down could come friday night, carl. both houses have to pass this in the next four days to avert that. >> reporter: another time consuming race to avoid a government shut down. this next would b one would exts for another three weeks and give lawmakers a chance tho doe bait how to fine hraoeud finalize th. it would cut $6 billion, which is on tract with what republicans had proposed doing this year which is cut $61 billion from spending. it would keep the government operating up until april 8th. the house his expected to pass it, but there are a handful of republican conservatives who are frankly fed up with this idea of short term stopgap extensions and they'd rather just try to essentially legislate the spending for the remainder of the year. if they amass enough numbers they could threaten passage of the continuing resolution in the house. they are trying to keep their ranks in order to keep the trains running on time. jon: they don't have a lot of time, right. >> reporter: they don't. if the house sticks to its schedule and is able to keep the republicans and get enough democrats to pass the resolution tomorrow then it will be over to the senate giving them about two days or so, and there there is a tremendous amount of growing animosity towards this idea of short-term spending members. marco rubio of florida today issued a statement says he's done voting for hem after this one. mitch mcconnell and charles schumer were talking about the need to get the work done and to stop these short term ways of doing business. listen to this. >> i don't think we ought to let the government shut down. i think it's going to include about $6 billion in cuts. so we are on a path, a slow path but a path, nevertheless to get to the $61 billion in reductions of this year's spending that house republicans were able to send over to us. so i think it should pass, and will pass. >> we are sticking to where we're at, this short term cr moved us in that direction, but now we should negotiate one for the rest of the year. we only have six months left, the president, senate democrats, house republicans are sitting down and negotiating, and we should get it done already. you can't fund a business two weeks at a time, you can't fund a government two weeks at a time. >> reporter: and yet with all that said, jon when lawmakers give themselves this three-week extension as they are expected to do, the first thing they'll do is take all of next week off and go back to their home district and postpone or suspend their negotiations and then they'll come back a week from then leaving only two weeks to negotiate. jon: i wish i had that kind of a work schedule, i'm sure you do too. >> reporter: you and me both. jon: unbelievable. thanks. jenna: fox news alert a 15th person has died after that horrific bus crash in new york over the weekend. the driver involved claiming a truck forced him off the road. witnesses are telling a very different story. how investigators are figuring out what really caused this terrible and deadly accident. also dire reports from the quake zone in japan, an engineer investigating the scope of the disaster tells us what he season the ground just ahead. and for the latest facts on the damaged tphaubg lar plant in northern japan and the risk of a worst case scenario, full scale meltdown go to foxnews.com. check it out during the commercial break. we'll see you in three minutes. ahh, fresh. feeling fresh enough to last through my parent's cocktail party? 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[ male announcer ] with xerox, what can you do with plain mashed potatoes? when you pour chunky beef with country vegetable soup over it, you can do dinner. 4 minutes, around 4 bucks. campbell's chunky. it's amazing what soup can do.™ jon: an engineer was in tokyo for a earthquake conference when the ground started shaking below him. mounting concerns regarding the nuclear plants after a second explosion and fuel records completely exposed at one of the reactors. he is now staying in one of the hardest hit areas of japan trying to see the scope of the disaster. he joins us on the phone. kit, what is the worst problem facing the people around you right now? >> right now i'm actually driving up to the sendai. the real issue right now obviously two things, one is the nuclear meltdown is one issue. the bigger issue that is affect being the whole country and the people here is that the power shortage, and also the material shortage caused by this disaster. not only the nuclear plants got damaged but many of the conventional power plants have been damaged, so that actually is causing the major shortage in energy here, so actually we are facing a few hours' black out in all of the eastern part of japan, including part of tokyo. jon: i know in a disaster of this scope it's tough to separate what was caused by what, but is it fair to say that because of japanese building standards the earthquake itself was not the big issue, it was the tsunami and all of the massive devastation that that wall of water brought that led to so many chain reactions, including the problems at the nuclear plants? >> that is correct. the building damage appears to be fairly limited. i'll going to find out more about it tomorrow in sendai and places like that, but so far most of the deaths is reported from -- caused by the flood, caused by the tsunami, that is correct. jon: what is the mood of the people now regarding the nuclear plant. it's scary enough to be in the united states and hear talk of a meltdown r. to be on that relatively small island nation and hear talk of a meltdown has to be terrifying. >> yes, obviously the people and the government are taking this svery seriously. something like this has never happened here before. it's just that kind of feeling out of control is something not common here in japan, in japan everything is organized, advanced technologies, and everything just totally, on time get things done. but this nuclear meltdown is something total low out of our control at this point, and i think a feeling of just -- i don't know if i'd say helpless but more like the fear of unknown about this. not able to control, i think that is the kind of the feeling here. jon: we had a graphic on our screen a moment ago about the fact of 300 after shocks magnitude 5.0 or higher have been felt since the original quake on friday. you must be feeling those. they must be pretty terrifying in and of themselves. >> yeah it is. i mean it's almost like you're on a constant, airplane ride, you know, here is the tremor, here is the shaking again. and it sometimes gives you almost dizziness, you feel that. jon: i know it's the middle of the night where you are and you're headed towards sendai. when you get up there and particular a look at more of the damage and give what help you can, given your profession i hope we can check in with you again. >> exactly, thanks so much, i appreciate it. jenna: brand-new details emerging about that deadly tour bus crash over the weekend in new york. what the driver and passengers are now saying, we are live with the latest on that investigation, plus whether in japan today how it affects rescue efforts and the danger of radiation spreading across that country and beyond. we'll tell you a little bit about that. in the meantime check out the quake interactive map at foxnews.com to see the epicenter of the earthquake, the hardest hit areas and a history of other natural disasters like this one. we may not be able to make direct comparisons but we'll try to put it in perspective for you. for more images of the devastation that we are not putting on television you can go to foxnews.com. iabetes, you struggle to control your blood sugar. you exercise and eat right, but your blood sugar may still be high, and you need extra help. ask your doctor about onglyza, a once daily medicine used with diet and exercise to control high blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. adding onglyza to your current oral medicine may help reduce after meal blood sugar spikes and may help reduce high morning blood sugar. 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[ male announcer ] ask your doctor about adding onglyza. extra help. extra control. you may be eligible to pay $10 a month with the onglyza value card program. or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. jon: fox news alert, a very serious one. officials in japan say the nuclear fuel rods appear to be melting inside all three of the most troubled nuclear reactors in that country. a statement from chief cabinet secretary says although we cannot directly check it, it is highly likely it's happening. jenna raises a good point, during the three mile island catastrophe they had to guest what was going on inside the reactor. it is simply too dangerous and impossible to physically check. some experts would consider what is going on in japan right now in those three reactors a partial meltdown of the reactor. others say that term applies only when the nuclear fuel melts through the inner most chamber but not through the outer containment shell. it is a very serious situation there and seems to get worse by the hour. more details as they become available. jenna: we are watching the developments on that. engineers are racing to prevent a meltdown some say at a nuclear plant in northern japan. if they can't, and that is a strong cant we ream i don't know what is going to happen. there is a possibility that tens of thousands could get hit with a harmful dose of radiation. so far winds have blown most of the radiation leakage away from large cities, and blown it out to sea, but winds can change, and that's why we wanted to check in with meteorologist maria molina in the fox weather center to give us a break down of what we can expect. >> reporter: we are expecting the winds to begin to take a shift for the worse as well as the weather. we have an approaching storm system. this is going to begin to deteriorate our weather conditions across sendai japan. temperatures are starting to plummet, by tuesday clouds roll on in, showers to start off the day and that precipitation becoming steadier overnight with temperatures also plummeting below freezing. we'll also start to see tphours mixing in with that rain. thisnow showersmixing in with r. this is dangerous for people without shelter. and no heating available to many residents. we are expecting windy conditions. that will make it feel even colder. we are talking about the threat of hypothermia for anyone caught outside for a long period of time in these cold temperatures. by wednesday we'll see snow showers, very cold temperatures, a lot of cloudiness will provide poor visibility for any rescue efforts by helicopter. we want to take a look at the wind, we are talking about the possibility of some of these video active vapors leaking out of the fukushima nuclear power plant. the dot in blue is sendai, the red is the fukushima power plant. it is blowing out of the north and making the vapors blow off-shore. we are going to see shift there the northwest. they will still be blowing the vapors away from sendai. we know tokyo off to the south will actually begin to blow the vapors towards tokyo. we're looking at that possibility throughout tuesday when the winds do shift from the northeast. now these are surface winds, the winds aloft will be generally blowing west to east. any vapors that do make it to higher levels of the atmosphere will continue to blow towards the united states. areas like hawaii, alaskan the west coast. jenna: certainly something we'll be watching. so much different sides to this story. maria molina, thank you very much. jon: the death toll is rising in that horrific bus crash in new york this weekend. a 15th person has now died from injuries suffered in that accident. the driver of that bus claims he was clipped by a tractor/trailer rig and ultimately forced off the road. passengers, though are telling a different story. julie bandaras joins us now. she has the latest details. what about the driver's story is not adding up, julie. >> reporter: a lot about the story.