rescuers dig out more survivors a day after an earthquake rumbles through eastern turkey. the hope of finding more survivors is driving rescue crews in turkey. they've been digging through the rubble for more than 36 hours. the 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the eastern part of the country on sunday. the tremors brought hundreds of buildings crashing down killing nearly 280 people. in the city of van near the epicenter, footage from security cameras shows the moment the quake hit. the news agency reports that 279

people are confirmed dead and about 1300 others are wounded. about 1200 rescue workers from across the country and military troops are searching around the clock using heavy machinery. but aftershocks are forcing rescue operations to be suspended intermittently. many of the collapsed buildings are in urban centers. there are no details reports yet on the damage in rural areas. many people are believed to be trapped under debris. the international community, including japan and the u.s., has offered to help, but the turkish government says it can with it by itself. kurdish separatist gur i will as are struggling near the iraqi border to the south. curds are criticizing the government from declining offers of aid from other countries to cover the kurdish secessionist

campaign. nearly 100 apartment buildings collapsed and 169 died in the quake. that's more than half the death toll. it suffered the worst damage. >> reporter: the fire department says they are doing search and rescue operations. at least 150 people are believed to be still trapped under the rubble. they're crying after identifies bodies of their loved ones. they were pulled from the debris of a five story building that was completely destroyed. >> there were one or two aftershocks. >> reporter: with aftershocks still rattling the city, many people are staying outside, anxiously watching the rescue

operations. rescue workers arriving from around the country. a convoy of fire engines and other vehicles is heading to the town, more than 1,000 kilometers from the capital. food rags are being distributed. people are receiving soup and bread. workers are pitching tents. people are trying to keep warm by making a bonfire. rain is forecast on wednesday, and snow on thursday. with sub zero temperatures expected, the cold weather will add to the polite of the evacuees staying outside.

thai authorities are warning of more flooding in bangkok as the spring tide is set to peak an saturday. roads and shopping streets in central bangkok were under water after the chao phraya river burst its banks in places. one place is the royal palace and buddhist temples popular with tourists. shopkeepers were working through the night in an attempt to keep the water out. >> translator: i'm very surprised. we might have more water coming so we are trying to be well prepared. >> why are the floods in taiwan showing no signs of retreating? one reason is the record rainfall which is said to occur once every 50 years. weather authorities say the north and northeastern part of the country have had up to 50% more rainfall than average between june and september.

these areas also lie upstream from the chao phraya river that is overflowing. in a central park, water levels are still rising in some locations two weeks after they were first submerged. geographical conditions are also to blame. the capital of bangkok is located downstream in the delta area with canals crisscrossing the city. low lying flat areas stretch to the mouth of the river. once flooded, it's not easy to drive the water to the sea. high tides are also compounding the problem. to cope, the thai government has put priority on protecting bangkok. it put up barriers to reroute the water. critics blame the sure is spreading the flood. the leader of libya's national transitional council says islamic law should be the basis for legislation. the statement is seen as a growing political influence of

islamic forces. >> translator: we, as a muslim nation, take sharia law as the foundation of our legal system. >> jalil gave a speech in the northeastern city of benghazi on sunday. he called for lifting restrictions on the number of wives that libyan men can have and establishing an interest-free islamic banking system. but some ntc members say islam should play a more limited role. jalil's remarks could have repercussions in establishing a provisional government. the ntc plans to form a provisional government within 30 days and hold elections within eight months. meanwhile, libya's interim leaders have to consider how to deal with massive amounts of weaponry that circulated in the nation during the war. nhk world reports from tripoli.

>> reporter: libyans are jubilant after national transitional council declared the country's liberation on sunday. but several people have died during this liberation. at least four people died in tripoli, alone, after being hit by bullets fired by militias to celebrate the milestone. people are worried that their cities are filled with weapons. >> translator: i'm worried about all the weapons in the city. >> translator: i'm concerned about uncontrolled weapons. >> it's believed that eight-month civil war brought millions of weapons to circulate in libya. ntc chairman jalil has urged militia members to stop firing guns unnecessarily and lay down their arms.

>> but disarming militias is easier said than done. libyan police admit that since the gadhafi regime collapsed, they've been unable to maintain security. without help from militia. >> translator: it's difficult to maintain people's safety under our current system. we need to maintain security. >> reporter: 35-year-old ibraham jomaa mans a checkpoint in eastern tripoli. he used to be a public servant but joined the militia to fight the gadhafi government. he's now a member of a vigilant group trying to keep his neighborhood safe.

two women were kidnapped in his district by an armed crew. but this month they were rescued, not by police, but by jomaa's group. >> translator: security has not been restored, so we need vigilantes. >> reporter: on the night of liberation declaration, jomaa and his fellow vigilantes celebrated by having coffee. he says he wants to return to his former job and do his best to rebuild his nation, but he says it's still too early to disarm. >> translator: today's the start of a new libya, but vigilantes still have roles to play. when true peace comes, i'll lay down my weapons happily and become a civil servant again to take part in nation building efforts.

>> reporter: they are celebrating the birth of the new nation, but it remains unclear when militia's like jomaa's will be able to put down their arms and enjoy peace. nhk world, tripoli. "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan post-march 11th. we have two segments offering two unique perspectives on the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. "nuclear watch" brings you insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis. and "the road ahead" examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss "nuclear watch" and "the road ahead" on "newsline." japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency has made public a large portion of tokyo electric power company's procedural manual for nuclear accidents.

the documents show that the operator of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant had not made sufficient preparations for a critical accident. the 200 pages of documents released monday relate to the fukushima daiichi plant. the march 11th tsunami took out almost all electricity sources for the plant's reactors, flooding the batteries and power supply boards. the documents reveal that tepco did not prepare for such a power failure or any kind of prolonged power loss. it assumed that emergency power sources would be available in the event of a serious incident. tepco had earlier submitted the documents to the lower house with most of the contents blacked out. the company insisted the information had to be kept secret to protect its intellectual property rights. it also claimed the disclosure could open its facilities to terrorist attack. but the nuclear safety agency ordered tepco to resubmit the manuals without the redactions.

>> translator: we decided to make the manual public because transparency is necessary to find the cause of the fukushima nuclear accident. u.s. defense secretary leon panetta pledged u.s. commitment to peace and prosperity in asia. he is in japan the first time since taking his position in july. panetta spoke to u.s. soldiers and japanese self defense personnel monday at the air basin tokyo. he said he wants to make clear the pacific remains a priority for the united states. >> we will always maintain a strong presence incident pacific and be a force for peace and prosperity. >> a japanese sdf member asked

whether the u.s. military will reduce its presence in the region to accommodate reduction in the nation's defense spending. panetta said there would be no reduction in u.s. forces in asia and the pacific. panetta is to meet the prime minister noda and defense minister separately tuesday and discuss delayed relocation of a u.s. military air basin okinawa. a plan to move the marine corps station to nago city has been stalled due to strong opposition from local residents. china's defense budget is the second largest in the world. the country is building its military, including its navy, and that's causing concern and friction in the region. how is japan responding to this military force? we have a report. >> the marathon sales southern

basis in yokosuka city, 40 kilometers south of tokyo. it is a base for submarines conducting civilian activities in waters around japan. sovereign activities are national secrets. even sales defense members have no knowledge unless they're engaged in the unit. we are allowed in a submarine on the condition we will not reveal details of its mission. torpedo firing exercise was under way in this training area.

submarines have capacity to approach and attack targets without being noticed. some also block advance of aircraft carriers. last year japan's defense ministry reviewed its fleet of submarines for the first time in about 30 years. it decided to add six new vessels to its fleet. the policy was prompted by fears of increased maneuvers of the

navy. nhk took the latest footage of chinese vessels. a private research institute estimates that china's navy has 35 advanced ships and 31 submarines. that's more than double the figures ten years ago. china's navy has begun conducting drills on coastal waters in the east and south china seas and pacific ocean. china is aiming to secure sea lanes which are vital for economic growth. they also say china is trying to protect marine resources, including natural gas. the increased maneuvers have been causing friction between china's and japan's self defense force. japanese destroirs and chinese

aircraft came dangerously close in the east china sea. five such cases in the past 18 months. against this backdrop, the self defense forces are strengthening their fleet and stepping up collaboration with the u.s. navy. japan and u.s. have staged several drills in the waters near okinawa. two long time allies are uniting to face the challenge of china's power. we have some background on the stand off between japan and china. >> what is the reason behind the naval expansion by china? >> translator: with its economy growing, china was able to allocate larger budget for the

navy. it is believed china is doing this to protect is maritime rights and regarding taiwan, china wants to avoid intervention by the united states which is a naval super power. to prevent it, china wants to enhance naval capabilities and gain control of the seas surrounding taiwan. >> how high is the actual tension would you say between japan and china? >> it is not as if a change russ situation could break out immediately. however, we should not be overly optimistic and leave it unaddressed. as we saw in the video, military tension may threaten to increase. and both japan and china want to avoid a military show down. so japanese and chinese defense officials are discussing measures. >> precisely what measures are both countries trying to take?

>> japan and china are trying to set up a mer i team notification mechanism. normally naf east of different countries have multiple channels established to keep one another closely informed in the ee development of accident at sea. but there are no such channels of communication between japan and china. the two countries want to set this up as soon as possible. they want to establish multiple channels of communication at all levels from the top officials to rank and file units. >> you talk about the mechanism. are the talks on that making progress? >> translator: discussions have been held the past few years but they have not really produced results yet. progress is needed as soon as possible to prevent untoward incidents. it is important to therefore promote exchanges between defense authorities of the two countries and work on confidence

building. time now to take a look at the market figures. let's go to the global weather forecast with saki ochi.

>> and welcome back to your weather update. getting a look at weather conditions across east asia. first off, quite a bit of clouds across northern japan. we have a system in place also bringing in some cool air. we're looking at cold precipitation that is looking to head across northern japan and the western flank of the country today, and it could include gusty conditions as well as some thunderstorm activity. now, behind it really clears out for northern china as well as the korean peninsula. inland areas we see a little precipitation developing over the course of today, but nothing too major. for southeast asia, looking at tropical showers and downpours for areas like the northern philippines, taiwan and indochina peninsula. towards cambodia, southern thailand looking on the wet side today. highs for tuesday looking at 34 expected in bangkok with some

thundershowers. 26 meanwhile for hong kong. things cooling off in shanghai. only 18 degrees today. beijing 16, 11 in seoul. tokyo, 27 degrees. it does warm up during the daytime, as you head into the evening hours, the companies are going to be dropping dramatically. getting a look at the u.s. or rather the caribbean where we're seeing the most activity now. we have a hurricane here, rina, that formed. currently category one hurricane, and it is a fairly compact system, not really impacting a wide area. it is packing pretty strong winds and looking to become a major hurricane in the next couple days. still on a strengthening track. it may approach yucatan peninsula later this week. by then it weakens to category one or two hurricane. right now rainfall in slight amounts, honduras and belize and

southern mexico. and we may see stronger waves on the coastline as well. over towards europe today, looking at quite a bit of activity towards the west. we have multiple systems here that are starting to pack in strong winds as well as cold conditions. then that rainfall, too, ample amounts of rain vk reported across areas of the iberian ninds and the u.k. look to go linger today, another round of showers in place, while this rain band moves and heads towards central europe as well as theal bien region. may strengthen at times here as well. to the east, fairly dry conditions and even the scandinavian peninsula we are looking at quite a bit of sunshine. expected highs up to 7 degrees. vienna, feeling cooler here and let's look at conditions across van, turkey as well.

still recovery rescue efforts are on-going and weather conditions are not cooperating through the rest of this week. we did see some sunshine on monday. now we're expecting rain tuesday. that starts turning to a mix of rain and snow for the rest of the week. temperatures also dropping drastically, especially overnight hours, falling into and below freezing mark. it is going to be pretty chilly here. that's a look at weather conditions. here is your three day outlook.

our lead stories this hour. the hope of finding more survivors is driving rescue crews in turkey. they've been digging through the rubble for more than 36 hours. the magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit the eastern part of the country on sunday. the tremors brought hundreds of buildings crashing down killing nearly 280 people. in the city of van near the epicenter, footage from security cameras shows the moment the quake hit. the news agency reports 279

people were confirmed dead and about 1300 others are wounded. about 1200 rescue workers from across the country and military troops are searching around the clock using heavy machinery. but aftershocks are forcing rescue operations to be suspended intermittently. many of the collapsed buildings are in urban centers. there are no details reports yet on the damage in rural areas. many people are believed to be trapped under debris. the international community including japan and the u.s. offered to help. the turkish government says they can deal with the matter by itself. neither the areas, gur i will as are staging an armed struggle against forces near the iraqi border to the south. kurds criticize the government for declining offer of aid to cover up the kurdish is he sessionist campaign.

thai authorities warn of flooding as the spring tide is set to peak saturday. roads and shopping streets in central bangkok were under about 50 sent meters of water. one kilometer south of the flooded area is the royal palace and buddhist temples popular with tourists. shop keepers worked through the night in attempt to keep the water out. >> translator: i am very surprised. we might have more water coming. we are trying to be well prepared. that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us. we'll be back with more updates at the top of the next hour. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com