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USGS: 7.7. Magnitude Quake Rocks Myanmar And Thailand; Turkish Tufts Univ. Student Detained By Federal Agents; Judge Orders Administration To Preserve Chat Records; Putin Suggests "Temporary Administration" In Ukraine; More Than A Dozen Aid Workers Killed Or Missing In Gaza In Recent Days, Multiple Groups Say; South Texas Hit With Rain Storms, Flash Floods, High Winds. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired March 28, 2025 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[06:00:32]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN HOST: 7.7 earthquake causing widespread damage in Myanmar and Thailand. Authorities in Bangkok report one person was killed, 50 others hurt, when a building under construction collapsed. An unknown number of people remaining trapped under the rubble at this hour.

People throughout the city report feeling the shaking, with many running into the streets. The Thai Prime Minister has declared Bangkok a, quote, "emergency zone" as authorities assess the damage there. There are also reports of buildings collapsing in Myanmar. It's one of the world's poorest countries, reeling from more than four years of civil war.

Now, the epicenter of the quake was not far from Myanmar's second biggest city. Mandalay is a city of Buddhist monasteries, a sprawling royal palace, and a population of around a million.

Let's bring in CNN's Hanako Montgomery live this hour in Osaka, Japan. Hanako, you know the last few hours, sort of details have been few and far between, as authorities obviously deal with the aftermath of all of this. What's the latest that you're hearing?

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Rahel. As you said, details remain quite thin, given the fact that, of course, in Myanmar, a civil war has been waging in the country for more than four years. So information that goes in and out of the country is quite limited.

But what we do know is that, according to Reuters reporting, at least three people have reportedly died because of this very powerful earthquake in Myanmar. And according to some of the videos that we're seeing emerge from the country, several of those monasteries, those temples that you mentioned there, Rahel, have collapsed because of the earthquake.

Now, of course, there is fear that many more people are trapped underneath this rubble or could have been very badly injured because of the powerful tremor and also potentially the aftershocks. Now, the junta in Myanmar have declared an emergency situation for many cities across the country, and the fire brigade have been dispatched in order to look for any remaining survivors and, of course, those who need help.

But, of course, important to know, Rahel, as you mentioned, Myanmar is one of the poorest countries in the world, poorest countries in Asia. So the infrastructure that Myanmar needs to really withstand these kinds of tremors is, frankly, quite lacking. So these types of earthquakes, of course, though they're not entirely uncommon, it is, of course, the fact that it's a very powerful earthquake that is very shocking to many of the authorities there now.

Now, we've spoken to some of the residents there who said that they were scared to death because of the shaking. They didn't know what to do. They had to hide underneath their tables for a couple of minutes, it felt like, because the shaking would just not stop.

Now, as you mentioned there, Rahel, the earthquake was so powerful that it was felt in neighboring Thailand and also parts of China. Now, in Thailand, authorities have confirmed that at least one person has died and at least 50 people have been injured because of one building that collapsed. That building was under construction and you saw smoke billowing out of it and construction workers running in the opposite direction as they were running for their lives.

Now, Thai authorities have also warned residents and tourists who are in the city of Bangkok right now to beware of any high-rise buildings because debris could still fall from those buildings and hit residents who might be walking by. Planes have also continued to run, though they were temporarily suspended. And right now, train lines, some of them have been partially suspended, as, of course, the damage is still being assessed right now.

We're also hearing that children were sent home early for -- from school because, of course, the damage is just not entirely understood yet. We don't know the scale yet. And, of course, there is fear that more of these people could be very badly hurt, Rahel.

SOLOMON: All right, Hanako Montgomery, live for us here in Osaka. Hanako, we will come back with you throughout the morning, I'm sure. Thank you.

But for an eyewitness view of the earthquake, we are now joined by Stewart Beyer, who is the director of Secondary Music at Berkeley International School in Bangkok, Thailand. Stewart, great to have you this morning, unfortunately, under these circumstances. Tell us a little bit about what you saw and what you heard.

STEWART BEYER, DIR. OF SECONDARY MUSIC, BERKELEY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL: I think you're right about this whole confusion when you talk about Myanmar being used to it, but Bangkok is not used to it. And so there's a lot of places that don't have protocol for it. You talk about the confusion and the worry on people's faces.

I imagine Sukhumvit, one of our busiest streets, is still one of the most busiest streets pedestrian-wise right now because people are just out of their buildings wondering what to do. We got sent out of the school. I was literally looking down, eating a pear, and I thought that I was feeling sick and stuff.

And that's pretty much the same account that most people had in really fine spaces until I looked up to see a guitar swinging on the wall. And then we go outside, and you'll see, I think, a video of this, of the pool sloshing around. And in just a matter of minutes, we lost 100,000 liters out of the pool.

[06:05:08]

People saw tons of liters coming out of pools up on rooftop pools. The mall right here is completely unoccupied. This is being built right now. And usually, every single day, there is -- there are people up there, and there's not a single soul up in that building right now.

So people are scrambling to find the right answer. And like my daughter is still not at school yet. She's on a field trip, and they said 20 minutes ago -- sorry, they said 20 minutes about three hours ago. So traffic has been backed up. People don't want to go on their underpasses. It's, yes, a lot of confusion.

SOLOMON: Yes. Tell me a little bit more about communication. I mean, has communication been OK with your daughter's school and also just sort of the status of the students that you work with?

BEYER: Well, I actually, I work at the school. So we've been dealing with that personally as well and getting connected with them. And it's been great with the communication. I think one of the big things is our school has a lot of students from Myanmar, and there are some that are feeling OK.

But are -- there were students that when we were waiting for their parents to come and get them, that are breaking down, wondering what is happening to their family. And so as someone who really cares a lot about compassion and empathy, my heart's really gone out to them and to the people who are way closer to the epicenter that they're thinking about.

SOLOMON: Yes.

BEYER: I just -- I cannot imagine, like, kind of built on a swamp here, and we're still feeling it miles and kilometers so far away from it --

SOLOMON: Yes.

BEYER: -- so I can't imagine.

SOLOMON: Yes. And as you say, our hearts are also with certainly all of the people that are impacted. Stewart, let me ask, I mean, Bangkok is a city, it's a beautiful city. I had the pleasure of visiting not too long ago, a few years ago. It's always busy. I mean, it is always busy. It doesn't matter what time of the day.

And so give me a sense of when you --

BEYER: (INAUDIBLE). SOLOMON: Yes. Give me a sense of when you felt the tremors, when you felt the ground shaking, you know, what would have likely been happening on the ground, the time of day, what you would have been seeing, and just sort of the activity in Bangkok at that point.

BEYER: So the swaying, to my understanding, was very, like, gradual with the actual plate underneath us. And so things weren't, like, going like this, crazy, but that meant that giant buildings, you know, 50-story buildings, are swaying back and forth.

And I'm trying to find some videos of this. It's hard to tell because the person taking the video is also swaying back and forth. And so we all felt nauseated. We all felt like we were kind of getting sick. But, I mean, you'll see the videos of the construction building collapsing. Like, we're so grateful that nothing has happened with the construction right next to us, next to our school.

Yes, it's a very (INAUDIBLE) time when you don't plan on earthquakes to affect your area.

SOLOMON: Yes. Stewart Beyer, we're glad you're OK. We appreciate you being with us to give us that sort of eyewitness perspective and certainly thinking about everybody in that part of the world. Thank you.

BEYER: Yes, we're trying to be good ambassadors for America. So, thank you very much. Take care.

SOLOMON: Absolutely. You too.

All right, in other news this morning, the U.S. Secretary of State has a warning for some people with U.S.-issued visas. Marco Rubio says that the Trump administration may have revoked more than 300 visas so far and that more people could have them taken away soon. He says that it's because there are, quote, "lunatics" involved in destructive actions.

Here's the Secretary at a press conference in Guyana on Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're saying it could be more than 300 visas?

RUBIO: Sure. I mean, at some point, I hope we run out because we've gotten rid of all of them. But we're looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up. And by the way, we want to get rid of gang members too.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

SOLOMON: And Turkish PhD student, Rumeysa Ozturk, is among those whose visa has been revoked. She's being held without charge at an immigration enforcement facility in Louisiana. Plainclothes immigration agents arrested her in Massachusetts. U.S. government alleges that she supports Hamas. Rubio doubling down on the allegation a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

RUBIO: There's a clear distinction between protesting against democratic order and protesting in favor of groups that advocate for slaughter and murder of innocent people.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

SOLOMON: CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more now on the case.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rumeysa Ozturk is the latest in a string of arrests in the United States of foreign nationals linked to prestigious universities and purported to be related or have ties to a terrorist organization. Now, the administration is using an obscure law to target these individuals. It gives the secretary of state authority to revoke a visa if that individual or individuals is believed to have an adverse foreign policy consequence.

Now, there are no charges against Rumeysa. According to her attorney, she was here legally. The Department of Homeland Security, which has not provided evidence, said the following in a statement, quote, "DHS and ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas". They go on to say, "Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated".

[06:10:18]

Now, as you see in the video, she was approached by plainclothes officers while she was walking, and it was then that they detained her, arrested her and then detained her. This was an issue that came up in court where a judge said that she should not be moved out of Massachusetts. The Department of Homeland Security saying, however, that they had already moved her to an ICE facility in Louisiana.

She becomes the third student to be detained in that facility. Her family believes that it is an op-ed that she wrote last year that has served as the basis for this, where she criticized the response to the pro-Palestinian movement. Her brother saying in a statement, quote, "It seems that she has been subjected to the activities of ICE, which has been on a witch hunt in the post-Trump period against those who support Palestine."

Going on to say that the land of the free, the freedom of expression and the freedom of belief are under or rather that they have been targeted. Now, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, did weigh in on this, and he has suggested that there are more to come, saying that there may have been more than 300 visas to date that have been revoked.

Now, again, the secretary of state here is critical in the invoking of this law to, again, revoke visas from those who they deem could be national security threats. But the major concern with immigrant advocates and immigration attorneys is that there is not evidence that is being provided to justify or serve as the basis for this, or at times, the evidence that is being presented is flimsy. And that has been a major concern.

It is also part of ongoing lawsuits, but certainly the administration indicating that they are not backing down any time soon. Back to you.

SOLOMON: Priscilla, thank you.

A U.S. federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to preserve the group chat messages from top officials discussing plans for an attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen. A watchdog group is suing to prevent the text from being auto-deleted by the Signal app or otherwise destroyed. The administration says that federal agencies are already working to locate and preserve the chat.

Judge James Boasberg is overseeing the case. You might remember he recently drew the anger of the Trump administration over his handling of a challenge to the deportation of Venezuelan migrants. Former Trump attorney Ty Cobb explains why preserving those texts is important.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

TY COBB, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE ATTORNEY: Everybody on that group chat had an obligation under the Federal Records Act and the Presidential Records Act, you know, to transfer that text chain to their government accounts and preserve it under those statutes. I think it will be interesting perhaps telling whether those records were preserved.

And keep in mind that with regard to Goldberg's thread that he preserved, he came in late and opted out early once he realized what was going on. So he doesn't have the entire, you know, string. He only has the string that, you know, was captured during the time that he had.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

SOLOMON: Greenland is gearing up for the arrival of U.S. Vice President JD Vance and the second lady in the coming hours as leaders there condemn President Trump's bid to buy the self-governing Danish territory. Here's what he said Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT. It's a island that from a defensive posture and even offensive posture is something we need, especially with the world the way it is. And we're going to have to have it. And so I hate to put it that way, but we're going to have to have it.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

SOLOMON: Now, the itinerary for the Vance's dramatically changes. Outrage over the trip grew in Greenland. They will no longer go to one of the world's foremost dog sled races. The pair is now set to visit a U.S. base and meet service members. A Danish lawmaker says that Trump wants Greenland simply to expand U.S. territory. (BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

ANDERS VISTISEN, EUROPEAN PARTLIAMENT MEMBER: America have had security bases, military installations in Greenland since 1940. They have decided themselves to scale back their military presence. If they wanted to upscale that for any serious reason, there will not be any objections from Denmark or Greenland.

There's no obstacles in getting American companies into buying Greenland. Actually, the Greenlandic homebrew government encouraged that. So there's really no other argument for this persistence than Donald Trump wanting to enlarge his territory and apparently enlarging it by taking it from an allied nation, the Kingdom of Denmark.

SOLOMON: And we are also learning that the Vances will be joined by National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Republican Senator Mike Lee, a vocal supporter of President Trump's plan for Greenland.

Coming up after this short break, more on that massive earthquake in Southeast Asia. Stick with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:19:45]

SOLOMON: All right, back to our breaking news out of central Myanmar, which was struck by a powerful 7.7 magnitude quake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Video coming in to CNN paints a picture of widespread destruction. And according to Reuters, at least three people were killed in the partial collapse of a mosque located in the central Bago region.

[06:20:02]

Tremors were felt as far away as Thailand's capital, Bangkok, where this video shows another building collapsing. Thailand's prime minister has declared the city an emergency zone. Myanmar was hit by a strong aftershock of 6.4 magnitude around 12 minutes after the initial quake. We, of course, continue to monitor reports of damage and fatalities and we'll keep you updated throughout the hour.

But for now, I want to now bring in Professor James Jackson, who joins us from the University of Cambridge. He is an emeritus professor and active tectonics in the Department of Earth Sciences. Professor, great to have you this morning.

Just your first reaction. Obviously, details are still pretty limited, but what are your sort of top line reactions to this?

JAMES JACKSON, EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF ACTIVE TECTONICS, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE: This is not really a surprise. This kind of earthquake happens in that eastern part of the Himalayan region and in Myanmar. But this was pretty big. This is about the same size as the one in 2015 in Nepal, which killed about 10,000 people. So it's substantial, yes. SOLOMON: And then I was just looking through some of the notes that you shared with our producers. You said that this earthquake does appear to be different than others. Tell me more what you mean by that.

JACKSON: Well, and it's not really what I was trying to get across is that when you have an earthquake this size on maps, people draw it as a circle and say, here's the epicenter. That's a bit misleading. It's moving off fault, which is like a great knife cut in the earth.

And the fault itself is a line. It's about -- it will be about at least 100 kilometers long in this case. And it tears from one to the other. I mean, think of a piece of paper tearing, and it tears at about 2 kilometers per second. So it'll take a full minutes to actually do its stuff to rupture that sort of length. And it'll move about 5 meters or so in this case.

And that's exactly the same sort of earthquake which happened outside Los Angeles, 1857, or San Francisco in 1906 on the same sort of fault, where if you're standing one side, the other side moves to the right horizontally. It's not an up and down movement. It's a sideways movement in this case.

SOLOMON: That's interesting because that seems to also reflect what we heard from an eyewitness in terms of how it felt in Bangkok. Does the damage that we've seen in Bangkok thus far surprise you? And what would you expect based on your experience and the hours and the days to come in that region?

JACKSON: Well, no, it's not a surprise in Bangkok. One of the effects of the modern world is as people build high rise buildings, they become more vulnerable to distant earthquakes. It's not difficult to explain this. If you go to an outside rock concert or something like that, what you hear in the distance is the thump, thump, thump of the bass. You don't hear the treble because the treble gets filtered out.

So the bass travels a long way. And the bass, the long wavelengths, will travel all the way to Bangkok. And they affect big buildings. They don't affect small buildings. For the same reason, if you're listening to an orchestra, a bassoon makes a deeper noise than a flute because it's bigger. So it responds to bigger waves.

And so what's happening is Bangkok doesn't have earthquakes near Bangkok very much, but it's now more vulnerable to distant earthquakes because the buildings are a lot higher. And that's the effect we're seeing. And I'm afraid that's getting more and more common around the world.

SOLOMON: Yes. And so what would your advice be? I mean, as you know, Bangkok is a very sort of bustling city, a very busy city, a very densely populated city. What would your advice be for people in Bangkok, but also in that part of the world as we continue to wait for, you know, what the hours and the days ahead might bring?

JACKSON: Well, it's quite different depending on how far you are. I mean, now there will be aftershocks. There was already an aftershock, which is about 96.5, which is, you know, probably several hundred times smaller than the first one. And those ones will not affect Bangkok. The long wavelengths, the base, if you like, certainly won't travel as far as Bangkok.

So Bangkok is only really vulnerable to the really big ones. So I think the story is probably over for Bangkok. If you're close by, though, in Myanmar, places like Mandalay, you can expect pretty large aftershocks, certainly for the next few days. And you will be feeling them for several months, right?

So it's not over there. But the (INAUDIBLE) with luck, they will just get smaller and smaller with time.

SOLOMON: You know, Professor, we spoke to a seismologist in the last hour who said that his research had been suggesting that an earthquake of this size and this magnitude was inevitable. My words, not his. But his research indicated that an earthquake of this size, what was likely.

And I'm curious, had the local leaders in Myanmar necessarily have that information, acted on that information? I mean, what could they have done with that information, is my question. I mean, obviously, these are natural disasters.

JACKSON: You have to be very, very careful here. An earthquake is also likely in San Francisco and Los Angeles. That's quite different from saying it'll be next Wednesday at 9:00. But they're likely where they've happened before.

We know they've happened before on this big fault in Myanmar. And therefore, it's likely that it will happen again. What we can't say is when.

[06:25:02]

We can be quite good, as your seismologist probably was, at saying when they happen, they're likely to be this big. This is the kind of shaking you get. And that allows architects and engineers and planners to prepare and to build buildings that stand up and so on, which is why California is quite resilient.

But that's quite a different thing from what used to be called prediction, which is a short-term thing saying, you know, Tuesday is more dangerous than Thursday or something like that, which we absolutely we don't want to. And it's very important to make that clear, because if you allow people to believe that one day we will be able to do that, they won't take the precautions that you can make to make life safer, right?

It's very important the public understand that and that they take the precautions now by building good buildings and preparing for emergency services and so on. That's what will make them safer. We cannot say it will be at a certain time.

SOLOMON: Yes. That's a very important distinction. And we appreciate you bringing that to us and helping us understand sort of the science behind all of this.

Professor James Jackson, we appreciate the time this morning. Thank you.

JACKSON: OK, thanks.

SOLOMON: Other news this morning is European leaders deliver a show of support for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin is making it clear that he wants the Ukrainian president removed from power. The Russian president called for a temporary administration in Ukraine, adding that he wants, quote, "the root causes that led to today's situation eliminated.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): In principle, of course, it would be possible under the auspices of the U.N. with the United States, even with European countries, and of course, with our partners and friends to discuss the possibility of introducing temporary administration in Ukraine for what?

For what? In order to hold democratic elections, in order to bring to power a viable government that enjoys the people's trust and then begin negotiations with it on a peace treaty.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

SOLOMON: But now, while speaking to a submarine crew in Murmansk, President Putin also said that Russia is willing to work with Europe, but accused its leaders of, quote, "always trying to lead us by the nose".

Many of those Western leaders, by the way, gathered in Paris Thursday for so-called coalition of the willing summit. They agree that now is not the time to lift restrictions on Moscow after it demanded some sanctions relief earlier this week. The European stance sends a pointed message to the Trump administration, which said that it was considering Russia's demands.

But the British prime minister saying that sanctions against the Kremlin should actually be strengthened. And Ukraine's president called on the U.S. to step up its game.

Israel's military says that two projectiles were fired at Israel from northern Lebanon in the past few hours. The launches triggered warning sirens along the border. The Israeli military says that it intercepted one projectile while the other fell in Lebanon. Now, this is the second such incident in nearly a week.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, more than a dozen aid workers have been killed or have gone missing over the past few days. That's according to several groups. As Israel ramps up its renewed military assault on the enclave, the U.S. Agency for Palestinian Refugees says that eight of its staff members were killed.

Separately, Israeli strikes killed a World Central Kitchen volunteer as meals were being distributed. And the Palestine Red Crescent Society said that nine of its workers have been missing since Sunday when Israeli forces fired on ambulances and fire trucks in southern Gaza. Israel claims that militants were using those vehicles as cover.

And still ahead for us, reports of damage continue to come in and the death toll rising from that powerful earthquake that jolted Thailand and Myanmar. We're going to have all the latest developments after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:52]

SOLOMON: All right, let's get you up to date on our breaking news this hour. The U.S. Geological Survey reports a massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake in central Myanmar. The quake was felt as far away as Bangkok, Thailand. Authorities there say one person was killed and 50 injured when a building that was under construction collapsed.

Reuters reporting that three people were killed when a mosque partially collapsed in Myanmar. One Bangkok resident shooting this video showing water shooting out of a rooftop pool in the high-rise apartment building next door. USGS says that the quake had a depth of 10 kilometers or 6 miles. A large aftershock of 6.4 magnitude hit about 12 minutes after the initial quake.

Let's bring in CNN's Hanako Montgomery, who's been following this for us this hour, live for us in Osaka, Japan. Hanako, one thing we know is that questions remain about the number of people that are trapped in some of these buildings. Obviously, big questions about the number of fatalities here. And details still pretty limited. But what's the latest you're hearing?

MONTGOMERY: Hi, Rahel. As you said, details remain quite limited given, of course, the fact that there is a civil war raging in Myanmar right now for over four years, meaning information that goes in and out of the country is quite limited. But according to Reuters, we know that at least three people have died in Myanmar because of this very powerful earthquake.

We're also seeing lots of videos emerging on social media showing some of these Buddhist temples in the city of Mandalay that have completely collapsed because of these powerful tremors. We're also seeing homes completely flattened due to this earthquake.

Now, some of the residents and the survivors that we've spoken to at CNN have told us that they were terrified, scared to death because of these tremors. They said that they felt like they were hiding under desks for what felt like a couple of minutes, just unsure whether they'd be able to get to safety.

Now, Rahel, it's important to know also that Myanmar is one of the poorest countries in the world and doesn't really have the economic means to make sure that every single building is up to standard code and can withstand these types of powerful tremors, especially when we're talking about the city of Mandalay, which, of course, is home to temples and buildings that have existed in the country for several hundred, if not thousands, of years.

[06:35:02]

So there is, of course, again, a lot of concern about just how many potential people have died because of this earthquake and how many more are injured. Now the junta in Myanmar have declared an emergency situation. They've also dispatched the fire brigade to look for potential survivors.

Now Rahel, also as you mentioned the earthquake was so powerful that was felt in neighboring Thailand and also parts of China. Now the governor of the city of Bangkok has confirmed that at least three people have died from the earthquake. At least 50 people have been injured and many more remain missing.

Now also the governor of Bangkok has said to residents and visitors of the city to beware of any high-rise buildings. Now that's because there could potentially be aftershocks as is often the case with these sorts of very powerful earthquakes.

Now in the event of any powerful aftershocks, debris from these high- rise buildings could fall down and injure some of those residents. Also some train lines in Bangkok have been suspended also to protect those residents there in the city. Again Rahel, we're still gathering a lot of information about just the scale of devastation, the scale of destruction that we're seeing in multiple countries now.

But Rahel, of course there's a lot of fear that there could be many, many more remain unaccounted for. Rahel?

SOLOMON: OK, Hanako Montgomery live for us here in Osaka. Hanako, thank you.

I'm going to now bring in Hari Kumar in New Delhi. He is a civil engineer with more than 34 years of experience in disaster risk management and earthquake risk reduction. He is the South Asia regional coordinator for GeoHazards International, which is a non- profit organization.

Dr. Kumar, we appreciate you being with us this morning. First let me ask, my understanding is that you have been to Mandalay, which is obviously close to the epicenter here. You have people and contacts that you keep in touch with there. What have you heard? Have you been able to get any communication out of Mandalay?

HARI KUMAR, REGIONAL COORDINATOR, SOUTH ASIA, GEOHAZARDS INTERNATIONAL: Not exactly with Mandalay, but with Yangon. Actually our work which took us to Mandalay was many years back to help the city of Mandalay prepare its disaster management plan that was at least 10 years back through U.N. habitat. And again to do training programs and to help assess the general hospitals of Yangon and Mandalay.

And, you know, what I'm hearing right now from my friends in the Yangon Hospital is that Mandalay Hospital is full and is no longer taking patients, which is absolutely sad because that's the only hospital available to the public. There are obviously many, many people coming in with injuries.

And if the hospital -- which is out of power by the way, and water, power and water is down because actually having done the assessment of that hospital, I know the water supply, they have three sources. One coming from the palace, which probably because the palace has collapsed, another the municipal corporation, and the third one was their own whirlwinds, which were all dependent on electricity.

So the power is lost, I'm sure the water supply is also lost. So they kept capacity to be able to treat patients would be limited now, which is really sad.

SOLOMON: Yes, I mean it's hard to wrap your head around that. No power in a hospital, no water in a hospital, and, you know, according to your conversations, apparently a hospital that is full and perhaps the only one in that general area.

Talk to me a little bit more about Mandalay, having had worked in the area. We know it's a city of about a million people. You do risk management, you do disaster preparation, I mean is this an area that is equipped to withstand this type of shock?

KUMAR: See, Mandalay has a mix of buildings. Obviously like in most places in Myanmar, the newer constructions have been built as per the code, which is good there. New codes are good and good. If a building has followed the code, they would be earthquake resilient.

But however, there is a building stock which is old, and there will be a lot of casualties there. The one saving grace I hear is that the schools are all closed for the summer. And so luckily even though the earthquake happened during school hours, there's no children in schools, which would significantly be, you know, it's a lucky thing that there are no schools there now.

SOLOMON: Yes, yes. And with you telling us there that the Mandalay hospital appears to be full, can you remember from your time there, I mean the nearest hospital is how far, I mean how much of a challenge does that pose for anyone who may be injured, and finding themselves with the nearest hospital now at capacity?

[06:40:14]

KUMAR: I mean, there are private hospitals but things seem to have changed of late due to the political assistance. Many private hospitals seem to have being closed down. So I'm really concerned about where the people will be going and how they'll be managing.

Narh-Bita (ph) Hospital seems to be also being affected, but not as much as Mandalay Hospital. Yangon Hospital has no emergency patients, so, you know, provided these can -- the patients can be transported to other hospitals outside Mandalay City. You know, it's just not a great situation within Mandalay --

SOLOMON: Yes.

KUMAR: -- from what I understand. Mobile services seem to have been just been restored. At least some services have been restored in Mandalay. But power is still down. Probably expected only tomorrow.

SOLOMON: Yes. And Hari, you've been to Mandalay at least three times for work. You've mentioned in this conversation some of your friends that you have there, some of your contacts that you have there, how are you feeling this morning? Obviously, as communication is limited, but as we get these pictures and as you think about what may come and the news that may come and the hours and in the days to come, how are you feeling?

KUMAR: Oh, absolutely devastated. I've been trying to wrap my head around the teams which were with us when we were doing the assessment. You know, they were so earnest and one of my colleagues was dehydrated. The nurse accompanying us. You know, she got in ORS.

And I'm just remembering all of those little things they have done to help us, you know, and they're resolved in taking the assessments, the results and recommendations of the assessments forward, I mean, I feel for them even during the workshop to, you know, prepare the disaster management plan of Mandalay.

There was some school teachers, which who forced some of us to go to their school and do a training. And, you know, actually we -- on the day when we were supposed to be sightseeing, they took us through the school and did a session for the teachers. And, you know, I think for the next four years, they would send me pictures of the earthquake preparedness drills that they had done.

So people really want to, you know, get prepared. And once they start getting the information, they were acting on it. I hope some of the risk reduction activities, which had been taken up have saved lives. But obviously there would be losses, there would be losses, and those -- the people really need help regardless of, you know, the relations with the government.

The people really need help.

SOLOMON: Yes.

KUMAR: The world should --

SOLOMON: Yes.

KUMAR: -- go down there and help.

SOLOMON: Yes. And I think, you know, obviously, details still very few and far between, but the scale of that help and the magnitude of that help. You know, we have to wait to see ultimately what that will be.

But Hari Kumar, we appreciate you being with us this morning. Thank you.

KUMAR: Thank you so much. SOLOMON: Yes.

KUMAR: Thank you.

SOLOMON: And stay with us on CNN. We're going to have more coverage of today's stop stories in just a moment.

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[06:48:25]

SOLOMON: Let's get another check on our breaking news this hour. A powerful 7.7 earthquake causing widespread damage in Myanmar and Thailand. Authorities in Bangkok report one person was killed, 50 others hurt when a building under construction collapsed. An unknown number of people remained trapped under the rubble.

People throughout the city felt the shaking, with many running into the streets. The Thai prime minister has declared Bangkok an emergency zone as authorities assess the damage. There are also reports of buildings collapsing in Myanmar, one of the world's poorest countries reeling from more than four years of civil war.

And in the last hour, I spoke with eyewitness Jack Brown, who witnessed a building that was under construction collapse in Bangkok. He was inside a vehicle when he felt the earthquake hit. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

JAKE BROWN, WITNESSED BUILDING COLLAPSE: On my way to a client meeting on an elevated expressway, when what I initially thought was a burst tyre in the car, because it was sort of swaying a bit, so I pulled over to the left-hand side and I noticed a lot of the other cars around me were doing the same. People were driving quite haphazardly and we couldn't really understood or understand at the time what was happening.

I stopped the car and the car was still moving quite a lot. Then I realized immediately it's an earthquake. So people were still sort of driving very slowly, confused. Everyone just didn't really know what they were doing. Nobody was driving orderly.

And then suddenly we just seen the collapse of the building right in front of us on the left-hand side, which is an area called Chatuchak near -- a very famous Chatuchak market. It was a building which is currently under construction and the whole thing just collapsed.

[06:50:00]

And obviously my initial thought was that if anybody is in that building, then 100 percent it's going to be fatalities for sure.

SOLOMON: Yes.

BROWN: Then what I found out later on was, sadly, there's still 67 people unaccounted for in that building. Rescue efforts are underway, but Bangkok now is absolutely gridlocked. You know, there's a lot of high-rise in Bangkok, apartments, offices. People are outside of those buildings now, I think, waiting for the go-ahead to re-enter the buildings.

So I think everyone is just sort of stuck waiting, really. You can see by the traffic in the car here, nothing's moving. We've been sat in the car for two hours now. Can't really go anywhere. There's a lot of emergency service vehicles trying to get through.

SOLOMON: Yes.

BROWN: People on foot, despite the 39-degree heat. You know, I think people are just waiting, really.

SOLOMON: Yes.

BROWN: They're unsure if there's going to be any aftershocks. There's talk about there could be some aftershocks and things like this.

SOLOMON: Yes, and just, you know, for people who perhaps have not been to Bangkok, I mean, just give us a sense. I mean, it is a very busy city, really, at all hours of the day. So when this happened --

BROWN: Yes.

SOLOMON: -- I mean, you were there to actually witness what would appear to be a building collapse, but just sort of give me the sense of the reaction you were seeing, what you were hearing, and just the fear that this obviously, as we look at this video, this would have caused in such a busy city

BROWN: Sure. I mean, earthquakes are not common in Bangkok or in Thailand. I've been living here for over 10 years. This is the first earthquake I've ever experienced here. So I think it took most people off guard.

You know, people weren't expecting it or they didn't recognize the signs of an earthquake. So I think originally, a lot of people probably thought it was their car or they felt dizzy or something, you know. And a lot of confused people, a lot of panic, I think, especially when seeing the building coming down.

People got out of their cars immediately on the expressway and just came to a standstill. There was a lot of fear, a lot of panic, because people don't know what's going to happen next. Are any other buildings going to come down? Are there any flow-on effects on the expressway, even, which is elevated?

Is that going to crumble? Obviously, people are frightened, very concerned.

SOLOMON: Yes. Yes, we're looking at video. I'm not sure if you can see it, Jack, but a video that you shot and what appears to be -- what I'm imagining, if you can see it, please correct me if I'm wrong, that that building collapsed, perhaps, and the distance there as you were making your way away from that area.

BROWN: Yes.

SOLOMON: So, Jack, what is your plan now? Obviously, there's the fear of an aftershock or what may come in the near hours or near days. Well, what's your plan? Where are you going?

BROWN: Yes.

SOLOMON: What are you planning to do? How do you plan to stay safe?

BROWN: I had plans to meet with clients this afternoon, both in high- rise buildings, so that immediately got postponed. I've seen that there's warnings coming out for people to stay away from the city to alleviate the rescue efforts and also to stay away from high-rise buildings.

I've seen that some buildings are damaged, and I guess the authorities or people don't know if those buildings are safe to re-enter yet. So, for me, I've turned around. I'm in the car. My girlfriend's driving, trying to return back to our office.

But like I said, the last two and a half hours, it's just gridlock. We've moved about two kilometers, I believe. So I think everyone's trying to get away from the city as quickly as they can, but they just really know where to go.

SOLOMON: Yes, absolutely. And then just talk to me a little bit more about -- I mean, we can see that, that traffic appears to be picking up. I mean, do things appear to be at least picking up steam in terms of the transportation situation? I mean, the only real people that I've been able to see past you are those on motorcycles or, you know, on two wheels. But just give me a sense of what you're seeing right now where you are.

BROWN: Traffic is very, very slow. The direction I'm going is to get out of the city. The direction coming in is just not moving whatsoever, apart from motorcycles. So I don't know how long it's going to last until, you know, this disruption is sort of alleviates.

But I think it's going to be a long time yet. It's not getting better. It's just crawling traffic.

SOLOMON: OK. Jack Brown, the --

BROWN: I'm not sure if the -- yes?

SOLOMON: I'm sorry, go on, finish your thought.

BROWN: Yes, I'm not sure if the rail transport systems are back up and running yet. We've got the sky red in the underground. I know that those services were paused. I don't know if they are, if they've been resumed yet or not, but perhaps that would alleviate some of the congestion.

(END VIDEOCLIP) SOLOMON: People in parts of Texas are being urged to get to higher ground today as floods continue to pose a threat to life. Flash flood warnings are in effect for the far south of the state. National Weather Service says that emergency crews carried out water rescues during a round of strong thunderstorms.

[06:55:01]

They say that if you were in the area, look out for large hailstones, damaging wind, gusts, torrential rain and the tornado. There is also a high risk of dangerous rip current along the coast. The next 36 hours could see six months worth of rainfall in South Texas off the back of a period of severe drought, dust storms and wildfires.

All right, thanks for joining us on CNN for our ongoing coverage of that deadly earthquake in Southeast Asia. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York.

Becky Anderson were going to -- is going to have the latest developments from the region right after this break.

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[07:00:00]