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CNN International: USGS: 7.7 Magnitude Quake Rocks Myanmar And Thailand; Thousands Protest Hamas In Gaza, Demand End To War; Trump Administration Considering Russia's Ceasefire Demands; Key Republican Senator Asks For Inspector General Report. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired March 28, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:00:08]

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Becky Anderson. You're watching CNN Newsroom.

We are following major breaking news this morning. Collapsed buildings with people trapped and an unknown number of deaths after a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake rocked Myanmar and Thailand about four and a half hours ago. These are pictures from Bangkok where at least one person was killed and 50 others injured when a building under construction collapsed. An unknown number of people remain trapped under the rubble of that building.

Thailand's Prime Minister has declared an emergency zone in the capital. In Myanmar, the military junta has declared an emergency situation in the central part of the country. Several deaths reported there right now.

The quake's epicenter was close to Myanmar's second largest city, Mandalay. The video showing a collapsed Buddhist temple, one of many in the city. And several aftershocks have struck near the epicenter, including one of 6.4 magnitude.

A little bit earlier, CNN's Hanako Montgomery spoke to Rahel Solomon, my colleague, about the situation in both Thailand and Myanmar. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 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 is 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 and 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 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, "Reuters" is now reporting 81 people trapped in a building in Bangkok. More on that as we get it. Here's more of what we do know at this time. The U.S. Geological Survey says that the quake happened at a depth of 10 kilometers or 6 miles. A large aftershock of 6.4 magnitude hit about 12 minutes after that initial quake.

Well, earlier CNN spoke with seismologist Fabrice Cotton, who told us the quake occurred in a region with a well-known fault line.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FABRICE COTTON, SEISMOLOGIST, GFZ CENTER: What I can tell you is it's a major earthquake, no doubt on that, magnitude 7.6, 7.7, similar to the size and the type of earthquake that we had in February 2023 in Turkey. So we may -- we will have damages from this earthquake, it's difficult to really evaluate them yet, we don't have much information.

What I can tell you is that probably the earthquakes have been reporting the Sagaing fault, which is one of the major faults of this part of the world. It's a well-known fault, which has been where many earthquakes, more than seven, has been occurring between 1930 and 1960. So we are not surprised that the largest quake is occurring there. But that's what I can tell you now.

[07:05:10]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Gosh, I mean, that earthquake in Turkey, the one in 2023, I believe that killed some 55,000 people. So, again, we don't know the extent of the lives lost in this earthquake. But what you're saying is that this is equivalent to that one, which was so catastrophic in Turkey.

We talk about this earthquake as being shallow. What difference does that make?

COTTON: Shallow means that the cities are closer to the place where the seismic energy is released. So I think we have two major cities in this area, Sagaing, about 80,000 people living there, and Mandalay, more than one million people living in Mandalay. So I think difficult, again, difficult to evaluate what the damages are now.

But I think we have two major cities located to a major earthquake. So that's why we think that there would be damages. I think if you look at the prediction of damages from the major software of USGS, there is a high probability that there would be more than 1,000 fatalities.

I think a major earthquake like that also is felt quite far. And I'm not surprised also that in particular in tall buildings, because the earthquake is denying long periods, waves. And so tall buildings located in Bangkok for sure have been shaken.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's right. It's having such a huge footprint across the region. In terms of -- we've already seen one aftershock, and this was a major aftershock. That would be a huge earthquake just on its own. It was some 6.6. Typically, do we see lots of aftershocks? How long could this possibly continue?

COTTON: We quite often see aftershocks, which are about one magnitude less than the main shock. Usually that's something that is happening. So a 6.4 aftershock for 7.6 main shock. This is not totally surprising. Of course, for such earthquakes, the aftershock sequence will last quite long. Difficult to say how long.

Really, frankly, it's really difficult to say because it's highly depending on the earthquake. It's highly depending on the local stress on the fault nearby. So I cannot tell you anything about how long it will last, but probably several days, several weeks.

BRUNHUBER: Unbelievable the extent to which this could continue. You were talking about this area and this particular fault. What more can you tell us about -- so Myanmar is certainly no stranger to these types of earthquakes. But what more can you tell us about the fault and the geography on which this country is located?

COTTON: I think you have to understand that, of course, earthquakes are driven by plate tectonics. And India, the plate India, is moving north at a speed about more than about 3.5 centimeters per year. And half of this movement is accommodated on the eastern part by the Sagaing Fault.

So the Sagaing Fault is moving at a speed of about 1.8 centimeters per year. So half of the movement of the Indian plate toward the north is accommodated on the eastern part by the Sagaing Fault. So we are discussing here really a major tectonic fault.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Right. I'll be back with more on what is this breaking news plus the other day's news in just a moment. Stay with us.

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[07:11:42]

ANDERSON: Following breaking news in Southeast Asia, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake rocking Myanmar just hours ago. And it triggered the collapse of buildings hundreds of miles away in Thailand. This video was recorded by eyewitness Jack Brown, who was inside a vehicle in Bangkok when he watched this building collapse.

At least one person has been killed in Bangkok, as we understand it. And Thai officials say at least 81 are trapped in a collapsed building there. The Thai Prime Minister has declared the city an emergency zone as authorities assess the damage.

At the same time, Myanmar's military junta has declared an emergency situation in the central part of that country, including the city of Mandalay, which has a population of over one million. It is difficult for CNN and other news organizations to get information out of Myanmar, which is in the midst of an ongoing civil war, of course.

Teirra Kamolvattanavith is a Documentary Producer who is in Bangkok, felt the quake and joins us now. And just describe exactly where you were and what you felt.

TEIRRA KAMOLVATTANAVITH, DOCUMENTARY PRODUCER: So when the earthquake started, it was around 1:20 p.m. So around lunchtime, I was having lunch at home. I was sitting on the floor. And when the shake started, I didn't even click. I didn't even comprehend -- I couldn't even comprehend that it was an earthquake because I have never experienced an earthquake before in my life. I thought I was there something wrong with me. I felt lightheaded and I was dizzy.

But then my dog started barking. And then my partner, who was also next to me, said that he experienced the shakes as well. So we ran outside trying to figure out what was going on. The grounds were shaking so much that I had to hold on to my car just to keep from falling. And I felt a little bit of motion sickness. I felt dizzy. And I couldn't even believe it was an earthquake.

My partner was saying it's an earthquake. And I was like, there's no way that earthquakes don't really happen in Thailand. Because in my lifetime, and also I spoke to my dad who is turning 70 this year, in his lifetime, he has also never experienced an earthquake in Bangkok, especially of this magnitude. So it was really difficult to wrap my head around.

And we had this water tank that's a bit more old-fashioned in our house. And the water inside was swooshing. And it just felt very unreal. And it took me a minute to really wrap my head around.

And I started messaging my friends and getting on X right away. And everyone was very confused. In the initial two minutes, I think everyone couldn't even comprehend what was happening. There were questions like, what is this? Is this an earthquake?

Why do we have earthquakes right now? People just couldn't even believe it was really happening. So there was definitely a sense of shock and panic everywhere in Bangkok.

ANDERSON: Frightening stuff. And how are your friends and family? Is everybody OK?

KAMOLVATTANAVITH: Everyone is safe. A lot of my friends who are in the center of the city who live on -- who work or live in taller apartments and office buildings have been evacuated. I just got a text before this interview about five minutes ago. One -- one of my friends just got led back into the building after she had been evacuated at 1 p.m.

[07:15:02]

A lot of people are still on the streets because they have been evacuated and they have nowhere to go. So some of the streets are just filled with crowds sitting on the sidewalk. As well, major public transportations, including the MRT and the BTS Skytrain, which is the main mode of transportation for a lot of people in Bangkok, have suspended service until tomorrow morning. So a lot of people are just on the streets.

One of my friends sent me a picture of Sukhumvit Road, which is the major road in Bangkok. And he -- and I quote, "He says it looks like the apocalypse." There are just people everywhere. It looks like it's just a big crowd and a lot of people are just trying to figure out the next steps.

ANDERSON: Yeah, and we are seeing similar images here on CNN, traffic at a standstill, people on the streets. Just describe for those who are watching who may not have been to Bangkok, just the sort of scale of the city and what something like this, an incident like this means. I mean, you say, you know, the -- the transportation is ground to a halt. What sort of impact is this having? KAMOLVATTANAVITH: Bangkok is a huge city with a lot of people living in it. And Thailand is not -- is not an earthquake prone zone. Typically, we don't experience earthquakes. And we are -- the authorities and the people are quite ill equipped to handle something of this scale.

There are advice and tips and graphics being shared on social media, advising people how to protect themselves, how to stay safe and what to do doing an earthquake, because that is just something most Bangkokians have no knowledge of. And there is huge concerns about structural damage to buildings because as because Thailand is not usually prone to earthquakes. A lot of these buildings are not designed to withstand earthquakes.

So I think the biggest fear right now is the like how the structure of the building will hold up after the earthquake and possible aftershocks. And I think a lot of people are in panic and you can see it on the streets.

You know, the traffic is just has grounded to a halt. If you look at the maps, it's just red, red lines indicating traffic all over. People are just trying to wrap their heads around what is happening and what it means for Thailand, what it means moving forward with construction. And is this something we have to keep in mind now?

Yeah, I think the atmosphere is just quite still in panic from the earthquake that just happened hours ago.

ANDERSON: Yeah. And the Prime Minister there declaring Bangkok an emergency zone after this quake some hours ago.

It's good to have you. And I'm glad you're safe. Thank you very much indeed for sharing your story.

More on our breaking news as we get it into CNN, our staff working to get more. While they do, let's get you up to date on some of our other international headlines this hour.

And over consecutive days this week, thousands of Palestinians have taken to the streets in Gaza for the largest public demonstrations against Hamas since the war began in October 2023.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports and a warning, you may find some of the content in Jeremy's report disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CHANTING)

GRAPHIC: Yalla, yalla, yalla! Hamas, get out!

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Calls for ousting Hamas echo through the rubble-lined streets of Northern Gaza. After 17 months of war, public exhaustion and rising anger at the Islamist militant group has spilled out into the open, marking the war's largest anti-Hamas demonstrations. (CHANTING)

DIAMOND (voice-over): "No Hamas, no Jihad," they chant. "We want to save our country."

Over two consecutive days, a few thousand Palestinians poured into the streets of Beit Lahia. The protests represent a relatively small share of Gaza's population of more than 2 million, but it is still a remarkable stand against a group that has not hesitated to violently quash dissent. Some carried white flags as they raised their voices against Hamas and against the war.

This Gazan surgeon calling on Israel to stop the bloodshed, and on Arab nations to drive up the pressure. But his final message is to Hamas.

"Enough is enough," Dr. Ahmed (ph) says. "You have ruled long enough. Give others a chance. Give others the opportunity to govern."

"We have no food. Our children find nothing to eat," this man says. "We walk while stumbling over everything. We say no to Hamas. We have had enough. We are tired."

(CHANTING)

[07:20:00]

DIAMOND (voice-over): Small protests also broke out in other parts of the Gaza Strip, including in the central city of Deir al-Balah.

(CHANTING)

DIAMOND (voice-over): "I will not be ruled by a masked man," reads one sign. "The blood of our children is not cheap," reads another.

Israel, seizing on the protests, calling on more Gazans to rise up. But there is also a message here for Israel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

DIAMOND (voice-over): "Not all the people in Gaza are Hamas. Nor are they terrorists to be treated so severely," this man says, condemning Hamas's indiscriminate attacks. "Hamas," he says, "must also stop gambling with their lives."

Anger at Hamas has largely stayed below the surface --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

DIAMOND (voice-over): -- revealing itself only in the cries of those cursing Hamas after their loved ones were killed.

And so, it is no surprise that Northern Gaza is where the anger boiled over. No part of the strip has been more devastated. But there are still children here, and hope is not yet extinguished. DIAMOND (on camera): In a statement, Hamas government media office said that the protests, quote, "do not reflect the general national position," insisting that they are the result of the, quote, "unprecedented pressure our people are experiencing amid the war."

The question now is whether these protests will continue to grow. And if they do, whether they will actually affect Hamas's position on ceasefire negotiations.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, European countries and allies convened in Paris this week for a Ukraine security summit. A closer look now at the key takeaways from CNN's Claire Sebastian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was a major show of unity from Europe and support for Ukraine, 27 heads of state as well as the leaders of NATO's and the European Union committing to strengthening Ukraine in the short term.

Now, there was no firm agreement yet on security guarantees, but there was progress. President Macron saying that more countries, though not all of those present, had signaled a willingness to be part of a so- called reassurance force in Ukraine once a ceasefire is reached. But of course, that is far from imminent.

Since the so-called Coalition of the Willing last met at the beginning of March, Russia has rejected a full ceasefire. It's agreed to a pause in attacks on energy infrastructure, which Ukraine says it's repeatedly violated. And it's demanded extensive sanctions relief in return for a partial cease fire in the Black Sea, leaving in effect the U.S. led peace initiative in limbo.

Well, the good news for Ukraine is that the leaders gathered in Paris were apparently unanimous in rejecting Russia's terms. And given the extent of European sanctions on Russia, this carries weight.

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Complete clarity that now is not the time for lifting of sanctions quite the contrary. What we discussed is how we can increase sanctions to support the U.S. initiative to bring Russia to the table through further pressure from this group of countries.

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): In terms of short-term support for Ukraine, we also decided unanimously that this is not the time to lift whatever sanctions are on Russia and there will not be a lifting of sanctions before peace is clearly established.

SEBASTIAN: Now, by contrast, President Trump has said he's looking at Russia's conditions for a ceasefire. So the difficulty for Europe here is that it risks looking like it's breaking with the U.S. at a time when it's fighting to keep up the appearance of transatlantic unity and of course, convince the U.S. to provide some kind of backstop to an eventual security guarantee for Ukraine, something there's been no clear signals on yet.

Well, for Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy, after spending weeks repairing the damage of the Oval Office, spat with President Trump. This was also a fine line. He called on the U.S. to be stronger in its attitude to Russia, urging President Trump to help strengthen Ukraine's hand as it pushes for peace.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: We are back after a quick break with more of our breaking news out of Myanmar and Thailand. Stay with us.

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[07:27:22]

ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi for you.

You are watching breaking news coverage of the powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck central Myanmar, triggering the collapse of buildings hundreds of kilometers away in Bangkok in Thailand.

The epicenter of the quake was near Myanmar's second biggest city, Mandalay, home to around a million people. The military junta, which controls most of the war-torn country, has declared an emergency situation in the region's hardest hit. Military reports many civilians have been killed and injured. Three people killed in this mosque in the central Bago region when it partially collapsed. This video obtained by CNN shows the damage inside the building.

The quake caused widespread damage as far as Bangkok. You can see where it brought this massive building crumbling to the ground. And these are now live pictures from the site of the collapse. At least one person died there, as we understand it. And the Thai Prime Minister says there are at least two other deaths in the city. One assumes that, sadly, these figures will rise.

CNN's Mike Valerio is monitoring the news. Mike, what further details do you have at this stage?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, I'm going to tell you we just heard from Myanmar's state media about 30 seconds before we came on the air. Not too many details, but let's read into what they're telling us. They say in part, quote, several injured people are in hospitals near the epicenter of the quake, Mandalay, as well as in the capital, Naypyidaw.

They go on to say those hospitals in those localities need blood. Therefore, blood donors are requested to immediately contact respective hospitals for donations. So, you know, I would say, Becky, that we have four buckets that we're looking at in terms of assessing the magnitude of this disaster.

And the first one is casualty figures. So when we're looking at what the situation is in Mandalay, Naypyidaw, Yangon, the old capital of Myanmar, because we have this 7.7 magnitude quake, casualty figures have been very slow. And in the epicenter of, you know, the dramatic tableau in Bangkok, where that high-rise building under construction came tumbling down, pancake after pancake, the floors tumbling on top of each other, it's still unclear what the exact casualty situation is there in the center of the city, a thousand kilometers away from the epicenter of the magnitude 7.7 quake. So that's the first bucket that we're looking at.

[07:30:00]

The second bucket is infrastructure. We don't have a good read on what bridges are down around Mandalay, what the airport situations are like in Yangon, in Naypyidaw, and the surrounding localities. Infrastructure will be key for the Red Cross, for the United Nations, other humanitarian organizations to get into these hard-to-reach areas for desperate aid.

And then that leads into the third bucket, which is the political situation. When you have a military-controlled government that has been at war with several rebel factions for years now, how exactly is a humanitarian effort on a huge scale going to be coordinated?

And then finally, the last and fourth bucket is aftershocks. We did have that 6.4 magnitude aftershock rattle the region a few hours ago. I'll tell you, we have millions and millions of people in this corner of the world still afraid to go into their high-rise buildings in Bangkok, who are still afraid to ride the Skytrain in Bangkok, who think that, you know, there still could be tremors as we go into the evening and overnight hours. So that's the situation that we're dealing with. But in terms of just what the death toll is, that is still an unknown question at this hour, Becky.

ANDERSON: And it's difficult, of course, for CNN and other media organizations to get information out of Myanmar. So it may be some time before we understand what the impact on life has been there. Obviously, we don't struggle with getting information out of Bangkok. But this is only, what, five hours since the initial quake struck. So sadly, Mike, it does appear that this death toll is likely to go higher, correct?

VALERIO: That's absolutely right. On a good day, it is difficult to get anything out of Myanmar/Burma, whatever exactly, from whichever corner of the world you're watching from, whichever you prefer to call it. But it is notable that this is the first assessment from state media that we received 30 seconds before we came on the air with you, Becky.

So word is getting out for what it's worth. So we're hoping that we get more updates. This is really the first one that we know from state media in Myanmar that there seems to be a hospital crisis.

So what I'm going to be looking at and what our colleagues in Bangkok and Hong Kong throughout the region are looking at is, what exactly is the hospital situation? Are we going to see posts on X, on Facebook of hospitals in Mandalay and Naypyidaw that are overrun with people? So on a good day when it is hard to get things in and out of Myanmar, how are we going to help? How are we going to help them? That is what we are trained, that's what we're training our eyes on, looking at the hospital situation and how bad it could possibly be in the next few hours.

ANDERSON: Yeah, no good stuff. And I'm going to let you go because you are hard at work there.

We will get a weather update now.

VALERIO: Thanks, Becky.

ANDERSON: Mike will get back to you as and when you get more information for us. CNN's weather team, of course, is following this closely. Let's bring in Meteorologist Derek Van Dam.

Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, I think it's important that we contextualize this and what we should expect from this, Becky, because if we look at the last magnitude 7.7 or greater earthquake that occurred over land, we're not talking about deep ocean earthquakes, so we're talking about on land, that was the Turkey earthquake in 2023 that killed over 50,000 people.

So I think it's important that we put that into context here as we're starting to see these very intense, strong visuals coming from this part of the world. Myanmar was struck by a significant, very severe earthquake and we should expect, unfortunately, the death toll to rise.

So here is just one example, pancaked buildings, a tall tale sign of the intense shaking that took place. I mean, they just crumbled under the intensity of this shaking. And we're going to try and break this all down for you and give you an idea of why it was so intense.

But here is just a little bit of refresh information, maybe some geological or geographical reference for you. Here's Bangkok. Here's Mandalay. So this is Thailand and Myanmar. So we're talking about over 1,000 kilometers in distance between these two locations and that is how far reports of shaking were felt from the original epicenter of the earthquake. So that's really saying something.

What else is very important is the depth of the earthquake, of the 7.7 earthquake. A very shallow nature earthquake like this does not allow the ground to absorb the shaking. So what we're seeing is this shallow focus, 10-kilometer-deep earthquake, that magnitude 7.7, very near to the surface. So that allows for this ripple effect to take place across the surface, allowing for more damage.

[07:35:18]

We've also noted the type of fault that triggered this earthquake. There are three different types of fault. A normal fault would be the separation of the India and Eurasia plate, this particular location. That's not what happened.

The other type of fault would be a reverse fault. So that was when the two tectonic plates come together, allow for the rising of the land in between. That's not what happened. What did happen is what is called a strike slip.

So the India and Eurasia plate actually moved side by side with each other, and that caused this intense shaking right at the surface with that very shallow nature. So intense. We're talking about violent to severe shaking for millions of people across Myanmar.

Several millions. We're talking about near 90 million people felt at least light shaking from this, and that is evident with, of course, the shaking that was recorded in Bangkok and some of the damage from over 1,000 kilometers away. That's really incredible.

So we do anticipate more aftershocks with a magnitude 7.7. This is the way that it works. It's kind of an exponential type system. We already know there has been a magnitude 6.4 aftershock proceeding or actually after the original main quake, but we should expect more of these strong, powerful aftershocks.

In fact, magnitude 5.7 or greater, at least 10 of them if we look back at statistical averages of similar earthquakes. So this is how we do this. The USGS, the U.S. Geological Survey has a flag system, and this indicates to the seismologists, the meteorologists, the climatologists, everyone who's looking at this area right now how intense this earthquake actually was. We compare it to previous earthquakes in a similar location and consider the types of buildings and the material that the buildings are made out of, and so they put together what is called this estimated fatalities map.

Now, this is a kind of a macabre topic to discuss, but it's important because it puts it into context for us. When we're looking at the expected fatalities from this magnitude 7.7 earthquake, it is likely to be high because of the building structure, because of the shallow nature of the earthquake, and because of where it's located.

Now, in terms of going forward with the search and recovery effort that has begun and will continue for days if not weeks, well, the weather will not be a major factor in terms of bringing problems to the region. There's no significant storms coming through.

There is very little precipitation in this forecast for the epicenter region or the surrounding countries, so that is a little glimmer of good news here, but it is going to be a difficult next couple of days, Becky, as we try to sort out and get more and more information from this very challenging area.

So, I'm going to send it back to you. That's about all I have right now. We'll continue to update you.

ANDERSON: Well, that is more than enough news you can use. Thank you very much indeed for that, Derek. We are back after this quick break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:41:02]

ANDERSON: The breaking news from Southeast Asia. A massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake centered in Myanmar causing widespread damage in neighboring Thailand. We are just starting to get a clearer picture of the extent of the casualties.

Three people now confirmed dead in the Thai capital Bangkok and dozens are believed to be trapped in a collapsed building there. Bangkok has been declared an emergency zone.

In Myanmar, hospitals are appealing for people to donate blood if they can. The ruling junta says many civilians were killed and injured in the quake.

I want to get you to an earlier conversation with William Yeck, who is a Research Geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center. He is following the impact of the quake and developments from Golden, Colorado. And he spoke to CNN earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM YECK, RESEARCH GEOPHYSICIST, USGS: The earthquake was a magnitude 7.7. It was a fairly shallow earthquake, and it was followed shortly after, about 11 minutes after, by a magnitude 6.4. So just for context of the size, a magnitude 7.7 is about the size of the Turkey earthquake we saw in 2023. That was quite destructive.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, quite destructive. Some 55,000 people died in that one, and now we don't know the extent of either the fatalities or the damage in Myanmar. The situation could be completely different, depending on the buildings and density and so on and so forth. So we're still waiting for those details.

But in the meantime, Myanmar is no stranger to earthquakes. Give us the history of that region and the location of the faults that are significant in this case.

YECK: Right, so we've been able to model this earthquake, and we saw that it's a strike-slip earthquake, which means it's two plates sliding next to each other. And that's consistent with a fault, a very large fault in the area called the Sagaing Fault. So there's been other magnitude 7 earthquakes along this fault.

And as you mentioned before, you know, the impact of an earthquake really depends on the population density, the building fragility. So one of the things we do at the USGS is we take these characterizations of the earthquake, and then we try to estimate the impact. So for this event, we expect it to be a high-impact event.

We color-code the impact. We'll go green, yellow, orange, red. So this we consider a red event because there's a high population density. It's a large event. It's shallow, so we expect strong shaking.

BRUNHUBER: So a high impact, I mean, what precisely does that mean? Do you have a range of outcomes?

YECK: Yes, so we model very coarsely the expected impact in terms of fatalities and economic loss. So in this case, you know, our highest models estimate fatalities to be between 1,000 and 10,000, but it's a very broad range. And, you know, as we gather more information, we'll be able to drill that down more and more. And hearing news reports helps us as well.

BRUNHUBER: OK. Yes, the news still filtering out very slowly out of Myanmar for many different reasons. It is obviously cut off and going through ongoing conflict. In terms of the way that this particular earthquake proceeded, talk to me about the shallowness of this earthquake. How shallow is it relatively, and what effect does that have in terms of the consequences?

YECK: Right, so the shallower the rupture, the stronger the shaking would be. So if you have a very deep earthquake, you expect less shaking. If it's really shallow, you actually can have a rupture on the surface and then very strong shaking.

It's important to note that, you know, we talk about these earthquakes as a location and a point. So we say magnitude 7.7. But really, that rupture is spread along a long distance along the fault. So for an earthquake of the size that strikes an earthquake, that rupture can be 100 kilometers or longer. So they can be a pretty long rupture. So you'd expect strong shaking, you know, wherever you see the most rupture along that fault.

[07:45:07]

When we talk about shallow, we're talking about, you know, a few miles. But the actual rupture goes, it could be from, you know, zero to 15 miles deep, a patch of rupture. So we'll get more details as we do more modeling of this event. But we do know that it extends, you know, farther than the point that we see on a map.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's right. And we're seeing the effects radiate out as well way beyond the borders of Myanmar to Thailand, for example, where we're seeing that building collapse.

In terms of aftershocks, we've already seen at least one major one. Could there be more to come?

YECK: Yes, I mean, aftershocks are expected occurrence after a large earthquake like this. You know, unfortunately, we can't precisely predict when an aftershock is going to occur, how large an aftershock is going to occur. But, you know, we do know that aftershocks are something that happens. So people should be prepared for more shaking who live in the region.

And, you know, again, Turkey, if we look back to Turkey in 2023, that was an example where we had a large magnitude 7.8 earthquake followed very soon after by magnitude 7.7. So we know that these large aftershocks can occur.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's a good point. And the length of this earthquake seems notable. I mean, I lived in L.A. If you go through, you know, a 30 second earthquake, I mean, that is terrifying enough. We're getting reports that there was some three to four minutes of shaking. Is that normal? And obviously, the longer the shaking, the more damage there is, right?

YECK: Right. So the larger the earthquake, typically, the longer it takes to rupture across the fault. So that can lead to these longer earthquakes, as you will.

But at the same time, as you get further away from an earthquake, you feel more parts of the seismic wave as they travel. So you feel shaking longer than the actual rupture of the earthquake. So in terms of the reports of how long people felt shaking, you know, it's really dependent on where they were relative to the earthquake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: William Yeck there and more, of course, as we get it in other news. U.S. Republican lawmakers are divided over what is the signal scandal or signal gate, as it is now known. Some want to move on, others, well, they're calling for an investigation.

CNN's Chief Congressional Correspondent, Manu Raju, with this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are a lot of Republicans on Capitol Hill who are ready to move on from the Signal controversy that has really dominated the discussion in Washington over the last several days.

Yes, the Senate Armed Services Committee, the leaders, the Republican leader, Roger Wicker, who's the chairman of the committee, as well as Jack Reed, the top Democrat, the committee, they did in fact request an independent inspector general investigation that is separate from Congress. They want the government watchdog to essentially figure out what happened here.

But will Congress actually mount its own investigation? It's unclear the extent to which the Senate Armed Services Committee will do its own probe. They want to have their own briefings. But will they go beyond that? That is still an open question.

And in the House, there are some, all sorts of indications that Republicans there do not have any appetite to launch any investigation whatsoever into this matter. They willing to essentially sweep it under the rug and move on, hope it does not happen again.

And talking to Republican senators, some of them, including Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, someone who had initially struggled with Pete Hegseth's nomination, ultimately decided to vote yes, told me she still has confidence behind the Defense Secretary.

RAJU: Do you have confidence in him as Defense Secretary still?

SEN. JONI ERNST, (R) IOWA: I do. And this is a call that the President will make. But I know that the NSC is going to scrutinize this and then they'll get back to us and let us know.

REP. RICH MCCORMICK (R-GA): It was unintentional. It was a mistake. I think it's been admitted it's a mistake. It was wrong. It won't happen again.

RAJU: Hegseth has not admitted that as a mistake.

MCCORMICK: I haven't heard him not admit it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I don't see where investigation is needed at this time.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): In her opening statement, DNI Gabbard should have said this never should have happened. We made a major error.

RAJU: And that last comment striking a bit of a different tone, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who does sit on the Senate Intelligence Committee, she had raised some concerns about Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, and not acknowledging that there were errors that were made and not apologizing for their involvement in that Signal group chat.

But while there are those concerns among Republicans, many are just simply ready to move on, hope that nothing else emerges and hope that essentially the focus will shift next week when they come back to Washington.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: We'll be back with more on our breaking news coverage after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:52:29]

ANDERSON: Breaking news out of Lebanon now. And you're looking at pictures from just moments ago from southern Beirut, where Israel has launched the first airstrike since the November ceasefire. Israel accuses Hezbollah of firing projectiles at Israel. We'll get you more on this as we get it, of course.

That smoke rising from southern Beirut after an Israeli airstrike. They're the first, as I say, since the ceasefire in November.

Back to our other breaking news. Many people are feared dead or injured after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar, followed 12 minutes later with a 6.4 aftershock. And tremors have also been felt across Thailand and in neighboring Chinese provinces. Thailand's Prime Minister says at least three people have been confirmed dead in Bangkok and dozens of people are missing. Myanmar's ruling military is reporting, quote, "many casualties."

Joining us now from Seoul, South Korea, where he is monitoring what is going on across the region, is CNN's Mike Valerio. And what are you hearing, Mike?

VALERIO: So we're hearing new developments from Bangkok, specifically from Paetongtarn Shinawatra. She's the prime minister of Thailand. And she is saying, Becky, that it is OK for people to go back inside and is also adding that the situation is easy, easing.

Again, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand, saying the situation is easing and people can return indoors. And why that is important is because we want to show you what so far has emerged as the indelible video of this crisis from Bangkok. It's of a high-rise right there pancaking floor after floor after floor.

If you're just joining us, if you're just waking up in your time zone, this shows you how terrifying this magnitude 7.7 quake was, felt more than 1,000 kilometers away. So this is one of the heart-stopping scenes because we don't know how many people are still trapped underneath that rubble.

I believe, just looking at our internal chat here at CNN from Bangkok to Hong Kong to London, it seems as though our count is three, the death toll in Bangkok, three from a mosque in Myanmar. But that clearly is going to rise. And we were talking in the last hour, Becky, how it's very difficult to get information out of Myanmar on a good day.

[07:55:03]

I am also able to confirm new this hour that the Danish Red Cross, remember we were talking about what, if any, humanitarian groups are in there, in this country that's been beset by civil war. We have confirmation through X many people who work through the Danish Red Cross posting videos and images on X showing the devastation, showing that they are there.

But to refresh people's recollections of what exactly we're dealing with here, again, it seems as though death toll is three in Myanmar, three in Bangkok, but we're keeping an eye to see how those rise over the next few hours, Becky.

ANDERSON: Yeah, and we will be back to you in the following hour.

I'm going to take a very short break at this point, but back with more breaking news after this.

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