lucy jones is a seismologist with the u.s. geological survey. dr. jones, how surprised were scientists by the magnitude of this quake? >> well, a mixed bag. it is a plate boundary, we know these things happen, but this is the largest earthquake in the last 140 years japan, and some of the maps have said they thought that northern part would never have such a large earthquake. obviously that's not the case. >> couric: how does this tsunami compare to the one that struck thailand and indonesia back in 2004? >> this tsunami is a bit smaller than the indian ocean tsunami because the earthquake is a bit smaller. i mean, a tsunami happens because you have a massive earthquake on a huge fault that moves a large part of the sea floor up and the water that used to be there has to go somewhere else. >> couric: could this type of undersea earthquake happen along the united states coastline? >> there are two places in the united states where we have a similar type of fault that will also produce a big earthquake and a big tsunami. one is the aleutian arc around

caller then lucy's house. -- 54 is taller than lucy's house. and this is the western side of the downhill unit. so this happens to be actually potentially the view from my front window. but just to put that in scale, i have done my best estimate. this is the patio of 1869 have shire street, and is nearly 40 feet to the top of the proposed unit at0

caller then lucy's house. -- 54 is taller than lucy's house. and this is the western side of the downhill unit. so this happens to be actually potentially the view from my front window. but just to put that in scale, i have done my best estimate. this is the patio of 1869 have shire street, and is nearly 40 feet to the top of the proposed unit at 60 peralta avenue. so yesterday i took a picture. there is a lot going on here, so bear with me. i took a picture from the pedestrian overpass on cesar chavez. this is a view looking at the whole area from the north. it is rather obscure, but this is the peak of 1559 hampshire street. pardon me. this is what i have to work with. that is my best guess as to the size. if you see there is kind of a slow on the hill here -- and that is the peak of 1569. lastly, i have done my best to keep this to scale. this is a close-up view. down below that is the deck, a full 40 feet down. president olague: thank you. >> my name is gabriel. a few years ago, the mayor had a town meeting and took my question about muni.

lucy craft from tokyo. we should note the bank of japan had been scheduleed to meet on tuesday, and moved that up to monday to respond to the disaster. >> susie: the aftershocks of the earthquake will be felt throughout japan's economy. but could there also be ripple effects on the global economic recovery? erika miller reports. >> reporter: it's too soon to know the full extent of the damage caused by the earthquake. but it clearly throws a question mark over the japanese economy. i spoke with kenneth cukier a reporter for the "economist" by skype to get his take on the economic impact. >> industrial production will be curtailed because factories in that area will certainly be closed. even if they are open, they might have a problem getting electricity. however, it's not the industrial heartland of the country, so it shouldn't be too dramatic. >> reporter: last year, japan's economy grew in the first three quarters but contracted the fourth. the country has battled deflation for most of the decade. economi

cbs news correspondent lucy craft is in our tokyo bureau. lucy, good evening to you.d recovery efforts? >> well, we can see the progress and the search and recovery just by turning on any japanese tv set. there's a special way that they frame the information on the right-hand side of the screen. or on one side of the screen they show the total number of people they expect to be either dead or missing. and then on the bottom of the screen they run the names of the people as they're finding them, the names of the dead, and they're spelled out, their hometown, how old they are, and it's really personalizes it. it's something that's very japanese. so that if you know somebody, you can contact their family, et cetera. also, we see a feature of every japanese tv screen right now is a map of the country, showing the areas that are still under tsunami watch. and, until yesterday, almost the entire country was ringed in bright red, which shows the highest level of caution towards tsunami. now that has all been downgraded and most of the area is on a very low tsunami watch. >>

>> schieffer: lucy craft. we want to say thanks to her and to bill whitaker, to harry smith and all of our correspondents and there are more on the way covering this story in japan. we want to go now to atlanta. the chairman of the senate homeland security committee, joe lieberman, is there. senator, obviously our hearts go out to the people in japan, but i guess we had better turn to the local news here. does this pose any kind of a danger for the united states? i mean, if this radiation gets into the atmosphere, is there a danger of it drifting here? >> there is some risk, but i'd say right now, from what i know, bob, that it's remote. what this horrific natural disaster in japan has to do for all of us is to go back and look at our preparedness for such a catastrophe here. just to put this in context-- the japanese earthquake hit 9.0 on the richter scale. the great san francisco earthquake of 1906 was only 7.6. you can see how hard it is to plan for something like that. i do want to assure americans who are

lucy craft, cbs news, tokyo. >> couric: by the way, we mentioned on friday that lucy was having trouble contacting her 17-year-old son who was away at school in sendai. we're very happy to tell you that lucy got in contact with him over the weekend and he's fine. meanwhile, the head of the u.n.'s atomic energy agency said today the japanese nuclear emergency is not yet as severe as the three mile island accident in pennsylvania in 1979. to understand what went wrong at fukushima and what dangers still exist there, you need to know how a reactor works and what didn't work on friday. this is where nuclear power is made, inside this massive concrete containment zone is a reactor full of radioactive uranium, heating up in rods through a process called fission. >> it would be like if you had a tough guy go in a room with a bunch of other tough guys and they start hitting and beaching on each other and it spreads and you have a riot. >> couric: the thing that keeps the riot from leaving the rods is water, which circulate, heats up and produces steam to power a turbine, making energy. as soon

we have complete coverage, beginning in tokyo with correspondent lucy craft. when i talked with her a short while ago, i began by asking what is the japanese government telling people. >> what we are hearing is there is the continuing troubles at the reactors. there are a total of six reactors at this power plant. and four of them have been having malfunctions at various times. there have been explosions, hydrogen explosions, and there was a fire at the number four reactor yesterday. and we're hearing now -- i'm just looking at the headlines now, and it is the middle of the night here -- reactors five and six may be -- we may have the same problems with those as well. people further south, we're told that the radiation emissions are not harmful to human health. this isn't terribly reassuring, but, still, we're told by the government and a number of experts that there isn't anything to worry about yet. >> but, lucy, how fearful are people about these radiation levels spreading? >> people are shell-shocked, i'll say that, first of all. getting over the fact we h

. >> lucy's dad supports her decision to be vegetarian and helps her make meals. >> he took it as anpportunity to experiment with different cooking strategy. >> reporter: vegetarians don't eat meat, and some don't eat fish. but they do eat eggs, milk and milk products like cheese. lucie made the choice to change her diet a few years ago, when she was a sophomore in high school. >> i heard the story of how they made veal, and it really like disturbed me i guess. >> reporter: a concern for animals, and the environment, was the reason emili fiegelson chose to be vegan. >> it just uses less water to be vegan. it uses less land -- all of which is sort of being depleted by our current system of agriculture. >> reporter: vegans don't eat any animal products. they also don't use anything made from animals like leather shoes or bags. >> being a vegan is like actively taking a more gentle footstep on the earth. >> reporter: shannon algiere is a grower at stone barns center for food and agriculture. the farm doesn't use pesticides or other chemicals and everything used for growing, including wa

so hard to say lucy could be quick it could be rich it could be the plane isn't always as ninja just go in there sending out hundred ten tomahawks in the first set of bombing sorties and bunch of planes and here's a massive damage and then pull back and say ok let's clear it up france look clean it up italy let's clean it up korea let's clean it up oh no sorry we can't use japan anymore so that made it clear and it may have been exactly if there is anything that's this is to say. sorry sir it may be that there's going to be a protracted conflict here which is also what's in the that's what the united states wants another protracted conflict and one hand obama saying well we're not we don't really have the capacity to get into this we just have to make some strikes and for that humanitarian purposes we don't want to charge american taxpayers too much money anyway and put one on them so to strike here and there and we'll be out quick that's what we do we have been in the past for example grenada panama two fairly quick operations that we not they're not killed off anybody who would say

cbs radio correspondent lucy craft joins us.ndication of what is happening there right now in tokyo. >> well, the last i checked, which was a few minutes ago, we had reports of 16 deaths, 11 injuries, and undoubtedly that figure will climb quite substantially. but so far the reports of death and injury are quite spotty. it's very difficult to get a sense of what's happening. we've had reports of fires, of houses and buildings collapsing. but it's really hard to get a handle on how extensive the damage is so far. >> we are seeing remarkable video. not only of the damage by the tsunami but the fires that you talk about, and the buildings that have just been, many of them, demolished. but where would you say the worst damage is? >> well, of course, the older the building is, if it was, you know, built more than 20, 30 years ago, then it's going to be very vulnerable to earthquakes. the ones that are in tokyo, by and large, are, you know, heavily reinforced using the latest earthquake-proof technology. so those are the safest. but a

searching in the spice cabinet lucie kept full of whisky i found a key. i planned my invasion for that afternoon. thank you very much. [applause] >> i wrote a new book i'm working on. i'm from mexico city and i write about mexican stuff. i fear i would write a book to deal with that and get it out of the way. this is part of this project. my main character is alexander. [inaudible] don't take it personal. my aim, i guess is to at the end of my novel that [inaudible] good mexican novelists. alexander looked at the mirror and saw a mexican stairing back at him. the bad mexican had paid alexander a visit much the conversation from last night's party brought him back in full force. why did he always have to open his big mouth. why tell people that don't care that he hated and despised? he actually might like the [inaudible] hated me english and spanish he could not understand how someone could say he was mexican having been born in the usa. he doesn't like going to mexican places. he does not like to discuss beer and shots of tequilla. he never listened to sp

lucy craft in tokyo has more. >> reporter: panic at the plant. false radiation readings 10 million times higher than normal sent emergency workers scrambling from the fukushima dai-ichi nuclear plant on sunday. a correction soon followed as did the inevitable apology. >> i'm sorry for causing so much alarm. the number was wrong, this official says. the real reading is still high. 100,000 times higher than normal. and came from a pool of water in unit two. two workers had to be hospitalized on thursday for burns after stepping in similar pools of contaminated water. those pools are a problem in four of the complex's six reactors. primarily because no one knows what's causing them. top government officials suspect the seepage is from a cracked reactor core in one of the units. the prospects are not improving in a straight line and we've expected twists and turns chief cabinet secretary yukio edano says. the contaminated water is one of them. safety officials had planned to puferp the contaminated water to holding tanks inside the reactor but they a

lucy craft, "nightly business report," tokyo. >> susie: here are the stories in tonight's n.b.r. newswheel: stocks rose on the libyan cease fire and a move by the fed to loosen its grip on the biggest u.s. banks. darren gersh will have more about the fed and banks in a moment. the dow rose almost 84 points, the nasdaq added seven and the s&p 500 was up five. as for trading volume, almost two billion shares moved on the big board over 2.5 billion on the nasdaq. an f.d.a. panel says removing menthol cigarettes from the u.s. market would make americans healthier. but the panel did not recommend a ban. menthol flavor attracts younger smokers and makes it harder to quit smoking. and it's popular: about a third of u.s. cigarette sales are menthols. we'll have more on how the decision played out on tobacco stocks in market focus. a wisconsin judge has put on hold a law stripping collective bargaining rights from the state's public workers. the judge wants to review a challenge to the law before it takes effect. still ahead, when it comes to highly skilled jobs, companies say its not eas

lucy craft reports from tokyo. >> reporter: japan's food ban only applies to spinach and milk. but as expected, the radiation scare has prompted a number of retailers to shun all produce from the four states closest to the troubled nuclear plant. japanese officials say fear about health risks is overblown. the government is rushing to issue new guidelines for safe radiation levels in food. compensation to farmers who are being forced to dump their milk and spinach will expand the burgeoning cost of relief and recovery from the quake, tsunami, and nuclear plant disaster. the government is preparing a budget of about $120 billion to deal with the most urgent issues-- clearing debris and providing prefab dwellings for the nearly half-million homeless. supplementary budgets are expected later. meanwhile, the crisis has triggered a parts shortage that continues to sideline japanese auto makers. an estimate by goldman sachs says that idle plants are costing toyota alone $37 million a day. lucy craft, "nightly business report," tokyo. >> tom: still no word tonight on when japanese fac

lucy craft has more. >> reporter: officials insist the plutonium does not pose a health threat. in fact, some of it is decades old residue from nuclear weapons testing. the latest setbacks are fueling a collapse of confidence in the government's handling of the nuclear crisis, a scenario familiar to dr. robert gale, a leading authority on radiation accidents. >> i think that people, they don't necessarily trust -- they certainly don't trust people from the company. they know that people from the government are really just reading out data that they're given. it's not reasonable to expect a politician to have a fundamental understanding. >> reporter: which is why gale is calling for a panel of experts to help citizens make sense of what's going on. at chernobyl, the only significant source of cancer was contaminated dairy products which triggered thyroid cancer in 6,000 children. japan has already pulled milk from the affected area from their food supply. >> since the fukushima accident at the moment is a much, much lower magnitude, it's hard to imagine that there would be very,

lucy craft, cbs news, koizumi, japan. >> couric: and that is the "cbs evening news" for tonight.couric. we leave you with a reminder of the friendship between japan and the united states, the cherry trees presented to washington, d.c. by the mayor of tokyo 99 years ago this weekend. now in full bloom. a delicate symbol of hope and rerule in. good night.,,,,,,

lucy craft, "nightly business report," tokyo. >> susie: meanwhile, general motors is feeling fallout from the disaster. a g.m. plant in buffalo is stopping some engine production and laying off workers. so far, g.m. is the only american automaker to slow production due to a lack of parts from japan. and in japan, nissan is resuming work at some of its parts plants this week. it hopes to start building cars again on thursday, but not at full production levels. japan's entire auto industry is still facing big challenges, including rolling power blackouts. >> susie: . >> at&t feels gave a nice boost to investor confidence and a nice boost to stocks today. >> it certainly did, the megabuyout deal helping out optimism for investors today, so let's go ahead and roll with tonight's market focus. >> tom: investors were in a stock buying mood thanks to the big cell phone deal, but it was energy that led the broad market. we start with at&t. as darren reported, its $39 billion effort to buy t-mobile looks to increase services and subscribers. the stock responded nicely, up more than 1%. since

lucy craft has the latest from tokyo. >> reporter: executives of tokyo electric power-- or "tepco"-- did the customary bow of remorse, apologizing for a disaster that shows no signs of abating. their president, conspicuously absent from public view for several weeks, has checked into the hospital, complaining of high blood pressure. the latest alarming news from tepco? radioactive iodine in seawater near the fukushima plant has surged to 3,355 times legal limits. officials continue to argue seawater contamination won't ruin japanese fisheries, but these assurances are cold comfort to the agriculture and marine industries, which have lost consumer confidence here and abroad. meanwhile, tepco dropped another bombshell today. businesses are being asked to slash their energy use by a whopping 25%, or tokyo could face a long, hot summer of blackouts. lucy craft, "nightly business report," tokyo. >> tom: as we reported earlier, part of president obama's latest energy plan is focused on expanding the use of natural gas. that has tonight's "street critique" guest drilling for stock ideas. sh

lucy craft, cbs news, tokyo. >> couric: the u.s. military is playing a major role in the relief efforts, but today the aircraft carrier "george washington" was forced to leave its japanese port over fears of radiation. once again, here's david martin. >> reporter: the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "george washington" got under way from yokosuka, japan, earlier this morning. not to aid in relief effort bus to save its from radio active contamination. the decision to send the "george washington" to sea even though one reactor is down for repairs, came in response from a shift in the wind which is blowing increased amounts of radioactivity south of tokyo toward the american bases at yokosuka and atsugi. the winds threatened to dump as much radioactivity in the next 24 hours as in the preceding ten days. navy officers decided they could not allow the "george washington" to absorb even low levels of radioactive contamination for the indefinite future. at $4.5 billion, it's one of the navy's most valuable ships and the fear is that rad

lucy craft reports. >> reporter: panic at the plant. false radiation readings 10 million times higher than normal sent emergency workers scrambling from the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant on sunday. a correction soon followed. as did the inevitable apology. "i'm sorry for causing so much alarm. the number was wrong" this tepco official says. "the real reading is still high, 100,000 times higher than normal, and came from a pool of water in unit two. two workers had to be hospitalized on thursday for burns, after stepping in similar pools of contaminated water. those pools are a problem in four of the complex's six reactors. primarily because no one knows what's causing them. top government officials suspect the seepage is from a cracked reactor core in one of the units. "the prospects are not improving in a straight line, and these expected twists and turns" chief cab yet secretary yukio edano says. and contaminated water is one of them. safety officials had planned to pump the contaminated water to holding tanks inside the reactor, bu

lucy craft, "nightly business report," tokyo. >> susie: happy birthday, starbucks! while the world's biggest coffee chain has been celebrating all month, it officially turns 40 tomorrow. thanks to starbucks, a "half-caf grande dry cap" is now part of our vocabulary. but, three years ago, starbucks was in bad shape. profits were down, so founder howard schulz returned as c.e.o. to save the company. he details that comeback in his new book out today. it's called "onward: how starbucks fought for its life without losing its soul." earlier today, i spoke with schulz and began by asking what others can learn from his story. >> the book really is -- it chronicles the last two years of starbucks' transformation, and also going through the financial crisis. but really, the essence of the book is trying to build shareholder value and at the same time, giving back to the communities we serve and recognizing that you must build value for your people, as well as building value for your shareholders. as a result of that, success and profitability will be greater. >> suzanne: and

lucy craft has more. >> reporter: he's shouting, a tsunami is coming.unning for safety to a nearby building. as more dramatic videos like this emerge, the shock of what's happened continues to flood the japanese psyche. people haunted by scenes of crushing water and death. made more insecure by a lack of information from their government. they say they received no official word on what they should do if radiation starts to move their way. in tokyo, more people are wearing face masks, usually worn to guard against germs. and despite no proof that it will help, this woman tells us she's wearing it for protection from radiation. tokyo stores have long lines and some empty shelves. much of it blamed on hoarding. "i'm planning to buy more than i should" this shopper says, staples like noodles, batteries and toilet paper are running out. rolling outages, darkened intersections play havoc with atms. people are jamming airports and long lines have begun at passport offices. this official says more than twice the normal number of people are here. meanwhile, thos

lucy craft reports the u.s. government is offering to evacuate any of them who want to leave. >> reporter: the first flight from tokyo arrived in taiwan with fewer than 100 americans. sean kaiden left. not because of radiation fears, but because daily life has become too challenging. >> we had power outages for two days where i was, trains weren't running for three days. we had cell phones that were down. >> reporter: charter busses have also started picking up stranded americans in the northern japanese city of sendai. >> the bus will stay outside of the u.s. required 80 kilometer radius of the fukushima nuclear power plant. >> reporter: since u.s. law requires all voluntary evacuees pay their own way, passengers had to sign i.o.u.s to the government before being allowed to board. >> my mother wants me to leave and my girlfriend wants me to leave because of fukushima. >> reporter: while many americans are starting to make their way out of japan, there's growing concern about americans still missing, leaving a l

lucy jones, seismologist at the u.s. geological survey. doctor jones, how long does it take your instruments to reflect a shaker like this after the first shake in tokyo? >> it's actually only a matter of seconds to minutes. the earthquake waves actually travel at two miles a second around the world. the usgs system was able to look at the location of the earthquake within a matter of about ten minutes after the event. >> and what do you think they're in for now in the next few hours and days in japan? >> well, i think it's the overall disruption to their whole social system. there's going to be deaths coming. i mean there's people have already been found. there are going to be more to find. i think the next day or so will be really critical on that issue. the other important issue for them is getting the fires under control and also i think the nuclear systems. japan has a long history of fire following earthquake that's been very devastating. in 1923, the city of tokyo was destroyed with 150,000 dead because of primarily the fire after a

lucy craft, cbs news, tokyo. >> couric: now to the battle for libya. moments ago, the u.n. security council voted to authorize all necessary measures to protect civilians from moammar qaddafi's forces. that includes imposing a no-fly zone to ground his warplanes. qaddafi loyalists now control all of western libya and he vows to retake cities in the east now held by rebels. there were bloody battles today along the highway approaching benghazi where the rebels are headquartered. david martin is at the pentagon tonight. david, what does the u.n. resolution actually do? >> reporter: well, it clears the way for air strikes against qaddafi even as he is vowing to finish the job of crushing his opponents by tomorrow. about ten u.s. and allied warships are off the coast of libya waiting for orders. the american ships are armed with cruise missile that could knock out qaddafi's command centers and air defense network as well as crater his runways. that would clear the way for air raids against qaddafi's army which is rapidly closing in on the last rebel stronghold in benghazi. >> q

from tokyo, here's lucy craft. >> reporter: workers are scrambling after the discovery of more highly radioactive water around the fukushima nuclear plant. the pools of water must be drained to prevent further contamination of groundwater and sea water. meanwhile, soil samples around the plant have turned up trace amounts of plutonium used in reactor number three. however, officials insist the plutonium did not pose a health threat. in fact, some of it is decades old residue from nuclear weapons testing. the latest setbacks are fueling a collapse of confidence in the government's handling of the nuclear crisis, a scenario familiar to dr. robert gale, a leading authority on radiation accidents. >> i think that people don't... they don't necessarily trust... they certainly don't trust people from the company. they know that people from the government are really just reading out data they're given. it's not reasonable to expect a politician to have a fundamental understanding of radiobiology. >> reporter: which is why gale is calling for a panel of experts to help citizens make sense of

lucy craft, cbs news, tokyo. >> couric: more now from our new cbs news poll out tonight.bout half of americans say they're concerned about radiation from japan reaching the united states. about seven out of ten say they believe nuclear power plants here in the u.s. are generally safe but more than six in ten don't want one built near where they live. and 58% say the u.s. government is not prepared for a nuclear accident. and then there's the risk posed by nuclear waste. when we come back, what to do with tons and tons of spent fuel rods. [ malthis is lara. her morning begins with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills. the day is done but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. just 2 pills can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lara who chose 2 aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. think again. get high gloss color in 10. with perfect 10. sp

lucy we do know that the arab league made a statement over the weekend saying that what is happening in libya differs from the a.t.m. of imposing a no fly zone over libya maybe because these airstrikes were happening are happening were happening so quick to quickly. air strikes and arab league also said that per the protect protecting civilians does not mean shelling more civilians many asking if if the ends justify the means we also heard . the russian prime minister vladimir putin say that this is something of a medieval crusades the airstrikes that have been taking place by the coalition forces u.s. and western allies we've also heard members of china come out and say this is been way too aggressive that the airstrikes that have been taking place by u.s. and western allies have made the conflict and the escalation of violence even more dangerous for the libyan civilians so right now we know that there there was a division this division may have become deeper the division we should remind our viewers because five of the fifteen security council members actually abstained from from