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20 Injured N Major Explosion At Florida Shopping Center; Southern California Braces for Aftershocks After 7.1 Earthquake; USGS: 3% Chance Of Even Larger Quake To Come; Joe Biden (D) Presidential Candidate Apologizes For Remark About Segregationist Senators. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired July 6, 2019 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You're live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. We'll begin with a major explosion at a shopping center in South Florida sending at least 20 victims to area hospitals.

Right now crews in Plantation, Florida are searching the rubble for anyone who may still be trapped in the debris. This explosion taking place at a strip mall with an L.A. Fitness Center. It was filled with people doing their Saturday workouts, No Fatalities Recorded;

Here's the Deputy Fire Chief in Plantation, Florida. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEL GORDON; PLANTATION FIRE DEPARTMENT, BATTALION CHIEF: We did have an active gas leak when we arrived. They were able to secure it. Broward County's hazmat team went in, they secured the gas initially and then TECO was able to secure it from there. Whether that was the cause or not, we have not confirmed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And no confirmed fatalities, but two people do have serious injuries. Police are warning everyone in that area to stay away. I want to get right to CNN's Rosa Flores in Plantation, Florida.

Rosa, what are you hearing about these 20 injured victims from this explosion, any updates?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No updates from the hospital, Ana. All we know is that two of them in critical condition. From talking to the spokesperson from the area hospital they tell us that one person was transported with Level 1 trauma. That is of the most severe trauma. And another one with level 2 trauma injuries and that is a bit less severe.

But I want to show you the scene here, because it really speaks to the magnitude of this explosion. Take a look over my shoulder you'll see the debris field. Now we're about 100 yards from where this explosion happened.

And you can see -- and you're probably familiar with a lot of these strip malls, not just here in Florida, but around the country. So there's a lot of parking spaces around. You can see that the debris is on top of some of these vehicles.

You can see corrugated metal. Metal -- it appears to be from the roof there. There is brick that I can see, there's exposed beams. From walking around, I can tell, you that I saw a lot of insulation. There's also bricks and mats and there's even a jeep that's in the middle of the road that appears to have just stopped there and the driver obviously not in that jeep anymore.

So this just gives you an idea of the debris field. Now I'm going to ask our CNN Photojournalist, Jerry Simonson to pan over on and this is going to be a pretty extreme pan over. You're going to see some cameras. But I want to make a point here.

Because this shopping center that you're seeing here to our right also sustained damage. I was out walking in this shopping center, trying to talk to some of the business owners. I talked to one woman who owns a salon. The window was broken.

And then a police officer approached me said, "Ma'am you should probably not be walking under this awning", because they don't know what the stability of this structure is at this point in time.

And now of course you'll see police officers all around this area, crime scene tape as well as they're trying to have as much precaution as possible. But as you can see, Ana, this is a huge crime scene.

Now we understand that the ATF Miami office has arson investigators on scene. The gas company has secured the gas lines not just in the buildings that you see behind me, but in the general area because of the potential dangers. So they're trying to investigate and figure out exactly what happened here, Ana.

But according to the fire department there a call about the apparent gas explosion at about 11:30 this morning, and as you mentioned, up to 20 people have been transported to the hospital. The good news of course is that no fatalities have been reported. Ana.

CABRERA: OK. And at last check it sounds like they do not believe people are still trapped, is that correct Rosa?

FLORES: That's correct. We know, and you'll see some firefighters behind me. They're just doing their due diligence. They're going through that debris to make sure that nobody is missing. But according to the fire department everybody has been accounted for.

CABRERA: OK. Rosa Flores in Plantation, Florida for us, thank you. Now to the West Coast, a major disaster there, this one natural.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(bleep) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

(bleep)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: An earthquake, a very powerful one, and a second huge quake and a little over 24 hours. It shook all of Southern California as far away as Las Vegas, even into Mexico.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep going out for --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me see -- let me help you if somebody is hurt. All right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Hit late last night, the City of Ridgecrest right in the middle of the most violent shaking and while people there were still cleaning up from a massive earthquake just a day earlier.

The latest quake with 11 times stronger than the earthquake the day before. People terrified in their homes couldn't even stay on their feet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAYE KRONA, LIVES IN RIDGECREST, CALIFORNIA: It was just I couldn't -- you had -- we had to sit down or crawl on hands and knees to get around, because you couldn't stand up and be in an upright position without falling over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:05:00] CABRERA: Now here's the amazing news. After these two enormous quakes and aftershocks happening every minute, gas fires and building collapses and downed power lines, officials say so far nobody has died.

Live now to Ridgecrest, California. That's about halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas and CNN's Alexandra Field is there. Alexandra you were actually there when this second much more powerful earthquake struck. Tell us what that was like.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Violent is absolutely the only word that I can use to describe the experience of feeling that bouncing, that jumping, hearing the rattling, hearing the sound of glass smashing. We were in this very popular Mexican restaurant in town. It was pretty packed. It was Friday night, dinner hour, you had about 100 or 150 people who had come in. You can see their food's left on the table. That's where a server dropped the tray. This chair that is turned over.

All of a sudden though you start to hear that unmistakable noise. You can feel what is coming. You can start to see some of the aftermath of it right now. I think I'll always remember the sound of the glass shattering.

And then really it was chaos in here, Ana, people either trying to get under the tables to get some cover or just bolting for the door. This is a place that people had come after a long and a difficult day in Ridgecrest. They were prepared for the fact that they would have hundreds of aftershocks. They weren't prepared for anything this big.

I want to introduce you to my friend here Jason Corona. Jason you are the owner of the restaurant along with your father. This is a family business. You, as we've been talking all morning, have told me that you're a veteran of earthquakes. But for me this was a heart stopping experience. Tell me how this felt for you. 7.1?

JASON CORONA, RESTAURANT OWNER: Well, we -- we're definitely used earthquakes here. And like you experienced the first one that -- it was a lot smaller one and you saw everybody kind of -- you know, kind of ride it out, because we don't -- you know we don't really get too freaked out of an earthquake when an earthquake hits here.

But this 7.1, like when it started and it started off low and then as soon as that bouncing started, then I think that it set a whole new different level of panic for everybody. And it was -- it was different than the other ones that we've had before.

FIELD: This was real. This was very real. You were talking a little bit about the fact that we felt an aftershock in here. That got everyone's attention, but it was a few minutes later that really that big one hit.

Somehow you got your head together and you snapped into action. Tell everyone about what you were doing in that moment, looking around at your restaurant?

CORONA: Well the first initial thought was to get out of the building, because I wasn't near and I was near to the table to get under. And then I started going out and I got to the door and I realized that you had to open the door for people and let people out.

And then I started looking inside, and there's so many people inside that I did -- I had to come in here, because there was people slipping over here in the front because there were food -- there was food spilled.

And that's when I started directing people to the other emergency exits, so that people's people wouldn't get trampled up here at the front. And I don't remember. It was it was a blur. It was panic. FIELD: It is all a blur, but I know that we heard your voice in there. It was incredibly helpful. Ana, I'll tell you that you know the lights went out very quickly. Again, you had about 100 or 150 people here.

No one knew exactly what to do, some taking cover, others running for the door, incredibly helpful to have Jason, to have his family, the staff here, just helping people to find a way out. This is an event that has profoundly affected people in this community.

The cleanup starting. This family business is certainly hoping to be back on its feet soon. A big part of Ridgecrest. Ana?

CABRERA: Wow, it sounds so scary. Glad nobody got hurt there, no deaths to report, wishing that community all the best. Alexandra Field, thank you very much for more now on how people are dealing with the aftermath of these powerful quakes.

I want to bring in the Mayor of Ridgecrest. This is Peggy Breeden. Mayor, thank you for being with us. I know your community has been through a lot the past couple of days. Now that you've been able to sort of survey the area and assess the situation, what can you tell us about the damage and injuries across the region?

MAYOR PEGGY BREEDEN, RIDGECREST, CALIFORNIA: We have very few injuries. They're very minor. We've had no deaths considering a 7.1 earthquake. The 5.6 we could have been much more devastated, we weren't.

We have our buildings built to earthquake standards. So, consequently, we are having no major damages. We have some structural issues we're dealing with, and on an inspection we have seven building inspectors going around as well as our building department and our planning team walking the city to see where the issues are.

CABRERA: So do every single building -- does every single building need to be inspected?

BREEDEN: Those that are asked to be inspected, the owners have asked us we are going to. Those who we can see from the outside that there may be issues we are going to do.

[15:10:00] CABRERA: What have the last 48 hours been like for you personally? As we mentioned there was that other powerful earthquake a little more than 24 hours before this one. I imagine the whole community is really shaken for lack of a better word, no pun intended there. But you know internally it's got to be quite emotional?

BREEDEN: You know, it was kind of a test that I think the community and our staff as well as for the cooperation of Kern County, San Bernardino County, the State of California. Virtually every lettered organization in the State is here to help, and we have passed that test.

Have we solved everything? Absolutely not. And we are beginning to look at what we need to do to address the issues we can see right now with our eyes and how we address the issues with -- after inspection what we need to do right.

CABRERA: Right. The big question on I think a lot of people's minds now is what's next? What are you hearing and learning and what are you preparing for.

BREEDEN: Well, if you listen to the wise people at Caltech and other geologists around, they tell us to be prepared for other large aftershocks. We may have them, we may not. But whatever we're going to do, we're going to be prepared for them as best we can, because we have no alternative.

We're a community in the middle of the desert of 28,000 people. They depend on us for their safety, their health care and any provisions that we can provide and that's what we do. I'm amazed at how strong our community is.

We've had people walking around the streets, as you can probably tell it's a little warm here. We've probably got 105 degrees and they're walking around, knocking on their neighbors doors asking "Are you OK? Do you need anything?"

We have building contractors volunteering their time. We have organizations saying, "If you need help to fix up a fence, I'll be there". We have volunteers all over the community walking around and helping.

CABRERA: That's wonderful. Really wonderful to hear. Officials have said there's a between 3 percent and 10 percent chance there could be an even larger earthquake to hit this area in the coming days. So I can imagine that there's still that anticipation of what could come.

You mentioned earlier after that quake hit that some residents were too afraid to even go back in their houses, to go back to sleep. They slept outside. What should residents do tonight?

BREEDEN: Many, people because it is cool -- warm, but cool and the evenings have chosen to sleep in tents. We have a Red Cross center here at the City of Ridgecrest. It was pretty much full last night, but now we have room for 500. They are able to bring small pets in cages. And I think we had 160 last night and they are feeding them and taking care of them as their needs meet.

CABRERA: Mayor Peggy Breeden of Ridgecrest, California. Thank you very much. Please keep in touch so we can help get the word out --

BREEDEN: Thank you.

CABRERA: -- to what you need. We are standing your back.

BREEDEN: All right. Thank you.

CABRERA: Thank you.

Now to the campaign trail and former Vice President Joe Biden previewing how he plans to defend his record on civil rights, how he's using President Obama to prove his case. Plus. more chaotic scenes in California following the biggest earthquake there in decades. How does this one compare to other major quakes in the state's history? You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

[15:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Welcome back. If we've never experienced an earthquake it's hard to comprehend just how disorienting it can be. Here's what Friday's 7.1 quake looked like in Glendale, California. That's about 150 miles from the epicenter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Now as this video plays out you can see things shaking, but what you can't see is how the movement may affect the human body. It can disturb your inner ear. Make it hard to walk or even stand as the ground really just seems to roll beneath your feet. Some people say they feel nauseated by that movement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Earthquakes are fact of California life. Fortunately, no serious injuries or deaths have been reported from the two powerful earthquakes that have rocked Southern California in just the past couple of days.

But that hasn't always been the case. The 7.9 quake in San Francisco killed 3,000 people in 1906. In 1933, there was a 6.4 earthquake near Long Beach, killed 115 people. More recently 1994's Northridge quake, magnitude 6.7, killed 61 people caused $15 billion in property damage.

Understandably, nerves are still on edge as the U.S. Geological Survey says there's a small chance a larger quake could come within the next few days. The CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers joins us now.

Chad, geologists are now saying that the quake we saw on Thursday was actually called a foreshock to yesterday's larger event. We didn't know it at the time, so how do we know that this most recent quake isn't a foreshock for some even bigger?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You truly do not. And even after the 6.4, we said there's only a 5% chance of the big earthquake. Well, guess what happened, sometimes long shots win.

But 3% chance right now that it would be higher than 7 1 for the next big quake, if there would be one so, a 97% chance that it doesn't happen. But that's not zero. This has been along a fault line here from Ridgecrest and then sliding toward the Northwest.

In fact, these faults are very long. The shaking occurred on this 7.1 for almost 40 miles. The earth ruptured 40 miles underground, but the slide happened for a very long time. On the 6.4, the slide happened for about 25 miles and there rumbling went all the way to LA.

So let's like -- let's right get to it what's going on right now. 4,700 aftershocks from 1 or higher, some you can't even feel, have been reported since the main quake. Now, I want to take you back to Wednesday. This is what Wednesday looked like on the seismogram.

[15:20:00] It's a seismogram, because it's not a graph, because a graph is paper. This is a computer image of what the seismogram looked like. A couple of shakes. But then all of a sudden here's the 4th of July and the 6.4 erupted and then by the evening it started to calm down. These are all little earthquakes every line here 15 minutes.

And then all of a sudden as it calm down on Friday, boom, we had another big quake and the earthquakes continued. But there is your 7.1, almost off the screen, shaking up and down. And now I'll take you to something that's even a little concerning. I can show you what it looks like right now.

There's your live real-time seismogram from Sunset Peak, it's the closest one that's actually working, but it's still there. There was a quake there, there wasn't aftershock there and there and there. It's almost hard to figure out when the earth stops as compared to when the earth accelerates, when the earth actually moves here and here and here.

Every time you get that up-and-down, it looks like a heartbeat. If you're going to the hospital you know what that looks like. So this is what it looks like here for the next couple of days. We are going to see the earthquakes begin to settle down if we don't get another large one, in fact.

It's to 20 million people felt like shaking, 9 million people felt weak shaking and then all the way down here the severe shaking was right -- really centered around Ridgecrest and Trona, that's the area that really saw the worst of it right now.

So earthquakes beginning to come down, aftershocks beginning to come down unless that 3% actually occurs. So what is the 7.1? A 7.1 earthquake is 1.3 billion sticks of dynamite; 500,000 lightning bolts all at once. A 7.1 compared to a 6.4 somewhere in the ballpark of 11 times more power coming out of the 7.1 than the 6.4, Ana.

CABRERA: Incredible. Chad Myers, thank you for breaking it down for us. We'll check back with you much more on the quake.

Coming up, we also have breaking news from the campaign trail. Former Vice President Joe Biden just apologized for his defense of segregationist senators. You're live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Ana Cabrera, don't go anywhere.

[15:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Breaking news, Joe Biden trying to clarify some of the comments that made him vulnerable to attacks by his 2020 rival. CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the Biden campaign event in Sumter, South Carolina. Arlette, Biden just apologized?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes. That's right, Ana. We got a pretty remarkable noteworthy apology from the former Vice President. He is here in Sumter, South Carolina. And he said that he regrets his recent praise of working with segregationist senators in the past. He was telling this crowd that when he was a young senator he entered the Senate and there were several segregationist senators working there. And though he found their views repugnant, he did need to find ways to work with them.

But Biden then offered this apology to the voters here at South Carolina. Now take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Was I wrong a few weeks ago to somehow give the impression to people that I was praising those men who I successfully opposed time and again? Yes, I was. I regret it. And I'm sorry for any of the pain or misconception that may have caused anybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now Biden made those comments at a fundraiser a few weeks ago where he talked about working with these segregationist senators. And you had a Senator Cory Booker very soon after it was calling on him for to apologize, calling those comments hurtful. Senator Kamala Harris brought up those comments on the debate stage just a week and a half ago.

Now Biden also here was talking about his support for the 1994 Crime Bill and he said that he will take responsibility for the good things that happened along with things that went wrong with that Crime Bill. So today we are getting to pretty stark admissions from the former Vice President as he's here in South Carolina.

CABRERA: Change in messaging, change in tone, Arlette Saenz, we know you're going to stay on top of his speech today and digging into what may have changed the tide for the former Vice President. We appreciate your reporting. Thanks.

A ticking time-bomb, that's how a new Government Watchdog report describes the conditions at the border that children are dealing with. Plus, our cameras aren't allowed inside the detention facilities, but we are seeing what life is like through these heartbreaking drawings from children who live there. You are live in the CNN Newsroom.

[15:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Journalists and politicians have not been allowed to record video of the living conditions of migrant children detained in border facilities. But those conditions can still be seen through drawings by children who were recently released from one facility showing their perspective, illustrations of what looked like bars or cages, small rooms with toilets.

A new Government Watchdog report also describing extreme overcrowding.Younger children -- children younger than seven years old held in custody for more than two weeks, far longer than they allowed 72 hours when senior Border Patrol manager describing the situation as "A ticking time bomb". I want to bring in Dr. Colleen Kraft, a former President of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Kraft as a pediatrician what is your biggest concern right now?

COLLEEN KRAFT, FORMER PRESIDENT, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS: Our biggest concern is the conditions that these children are staying in, because they don't have access to clean water, enough food, their lights on 24/7.And there are conditions that will make a sick child sicker or a well-child sick.

CABRERA: We're going to go through some of those specifics in just a moment.But I want to get back to the drawings that we showed. I know you've probably seen them since they've been out for just a couple days.

When you look at those drawings from those children, what do they tell you about their experience and how they were perceiving what was going on and where they were being held?

KRAFT: Well,interestingly we use art therapy as a form of therapy for kids who've been traumatized.And the accuracy of these drawings and the pictures on them and the faces of the children and the bars are really a manifestation of what these children have gone through, and this is a depiction of their experiences.

So we can see the trauma and we can see the fear that's put on the pieces of paper by these children.

CABRERA: Why do you believe that they've experienced trauma by looking at those pictures?

KRAFT: They don't look like happy pictures, do they? I mean,there are jails,there are cages.There are people looking from the outside.There are people looking from the inside.And as we know that detention is harmful for children and their developing brains.We see what kids have depicted as their conditions and what they've been exposed to during their time here in the United States.

A DHS official who's also a physician told CNN this,"I am a doctor and a parent. I take care of everyone in our care like I would want my own children taken care of.The medical care has been good so far and I'm proud of what we've done".

Dr. Kraft you've had, I know, three conversations with Customs and Border Protection.Do you feel the medical care has been adequate?

KRAFT: There's a lot that Customs and Border Protection is trying to do to improve the medical care of these children.They've been working with the American Academy of Pediatrics on a training video, but it's not enough.

We need to have pediatricians at the border in these facilities, monitoring what's going on with these children.We need to be able to train the medical personnel to recognize the difference between a mildly ill child and a severely ill child. [15:35:00]So until we're in there and on the ground and serving these children and training their professionals, the medical care is not adequate.

CABRERA: This government watchdog report this week revealed harrowing conditions for some of the detained migrants.And I just want to list some of the examples again from government watchdogs and their own report.

Children under age 7 held for more than two weeks, waiting for transfer in this facility where they have lights never off, no beds, no cots, concrete floors, lack of hot meals.Inadequate or no access to showers, limited change of clothes.

Dr. Kraft as the pediatrician can you explain the dangers both short- term and long-term to a child enduring these conditions?

KRAFT: So short-term we worry about things like infection.We worry that a child might be mildly ill or will become severely ill in these facilities.

But long term you have this toxic stress, these chemicals of cortisol and fight-or-flight hormones that stay high in the brains of these children and they actually keep their brains from developing social emotional bonds, from developing learning and can result in long-term physical health and mental health consequences, including post- traumatic stress disorder.

CABRERA: I know you were trying to urge Customs and Border Patrol to let you or other members of the American Academy of Pediatrics go down there and help train some of the medical staff that are working at these facilities.What is the status of your conversations with them?

KRAFT: So at this point we are really still trying to work with them and have the training video that's part of the training of the people who are already working there and are doing the best that they can.

However,it's not enough.And we have come out very publicly instead until we have pediatricians training and on-site with these staff, until we're able to monitor the conditions and be able to make a change on the ground, so the children don't stay in these squalid conditions, we -- our message is the same. We need to do better by these children.

CABRERA: I know it's a complex situation and I don't want to ask a too simple of question.But I just wonder if there is one thing you could change right now to care for these children what would it be?

KRAFT: I would get our pediatricians in there and we have pediatricians who would volunteer tomorrow to go down and work to make sure that these conditions are better for children and to help out the kids that are all right you sick in these in these settings.

CABRERA: But if there were -- I guess, what I'm looking for is, is it a matter of getting them beds?Is it having each child you know given certain types of food?Is it making sure the lights go off for a certain number of hours a day or letting children go outside for a certain amount of time?What would be the one thing that could make some kind of tangible difference?

KRAFT: It's all of those things.It's really the attitude that children are valuable and that we need to care for them the way we would care for our own children and implementing these sorts of both physical comforts, but also the social comforts of having them with their families in place.

Treating the conditions like you would a refugee camp or after an earthquake or after a hurricane and not detention and not jail.

CABRERA: Dr. Colleen Kraft, thank you so much, such an important conversation.We appreciate your expertise on this issue.

KRAFT: Thank you.

And we're continuing our coverage of that powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit Southern California overnight.Plus Joe Biden just addressing his record on race, saying he accepts the good with the bad and he says he is "Changed" and he is apologizing for some of the things he has said recently. You are live in the CNN Newsroom.

[15:40:00](COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Former Vice President Joe Biden right now working the crowd in South Carolina.He just finished a speech there in Sumter, South Carolina.

We brought you a clip from that earlier where he apologized for a number of criticisms about his record. He talked about his comments, in which he talked about working across the aisle with segregationist senators, and he said he regrets having made those comments.

He also said this listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:Somehow or something to do with before 2008, as if my opponents want to believe I served from 1972 to 2008 and then took a hiatus the next eight years.

They don't want to talk much about my time as Vice President of United States. It was the honor of my lifetime to serve with the man who I believe is a great President and historic figure, and most important to me a close friend.

I was vetted by him and 10 serious lawyers he appointed to go back and to look at every single thing in my background, from financesto anything I had done, everything.And he selected me. I'll take his judgment about my record, my character, my ability to handle a job over anyone else's.

I know there are many who want this campaign to be about my past -- my past, not theirs -- my past. I get it.That's the game.But this isn't a game.Every one of you no, matter who you're for know in your bones this election is different, not because I'm running, this election is different.

If we do not defeat Donald Trump, the character of this nation will be fundamentally and forever altered.Folks,I'm determined to make this election about America's future.About the issues that are right in front of us, not the ones are behind us.

I believe you should protect --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:45:00]CABRERA: More from the campaign trail coming up.But first from the first silent film to the blockbusters of today, the history of American cinema is sometimes beautiful, occasionally controversial, but always inspiring.

And tomorrow night, our brand new CNN original series "The Movies"will delve into the stories be movies you love.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON HOWARD, AMERICAN FILMMAKER: There is still something about being told a story. A movie is something that's been really handcrafted.It's a mosaic that's been carefully pieced together. It just creates this opportunity to totally lose yourself.

MARTIN SCORSESE, AMERICAN FILMMAKER: These images live in our consciousness. It stays in our minds, the way music is recalled in our heads, those images are replayed and we live our lives by them.

JULIA ROBERTS, AMERICAN ACTRESS: It brings all the elements of all our senses together. There's really nothing else like it.

JON FAVREAU, AMERICAN ACTOR: Even though you're doing something incredibly personal, and in many ways, incredibly selfish, because you're doing something you love so much, and it gets out there in the world, and it could change people's trajectories.

ALEC BALDWIN, AMERICAN ACTOR: When you can go somewhere that you can pretty much guarantee that it sets your worries aside for that period of time. It's like a drug. It's like a drug.

HOLLY HUNTER, AMERICAN ACTRESS: It's just a direct conduit straight into your soul.

MORGAN FREEMAN, AMERICAN ACTOR: I grew up wanting to be the movies. It was all about the movies.

BAZ LUHRMANN, AUSTRALIAN WRITER: Since the dawn of man, we like to get around a fireplace and commune in story together. So we can feel for a few hours that we're human together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: It sure does. Tune in the "The Movies" premieres tomorrow night at 9 Eastern on CNN. Still to come, what experts are saying about the potential or even stronger earthquake to hit Southern California in the coming days.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:00]CABRERA: We celebrate America's independence this weekend, we want to introduce you to a CNN Hero, she's helping refugees get one step closer to the American dream with an innovative culinary job training program.Meet Kerry Brodie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KERRY BRODIE, FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, EMMA'S TORCH:What we're teaching our students isn't just knife skills and it isn't just cooking.It's the idea that you are a human and you have value, and that's something that people have tried to strip away from others for such a long time.

BRODIE: What's the dream team cooking at?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Samba cake.

BRODIE: Samba cake. Awesome.

BRODIE: That experience of watching our students transform, of seeing our students really come into their own inspires me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: To get the full story about Kerry's program and to nominate someone you think should be a CNN Hero go to cnnheroes.com.

Back to Southern California now where we are seeing some incredible video of what it was like to be in the middle of a magnitude 7.1 earthquake. Take a look.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get under the table -- get under the table. (bleep). Oh, my god.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- own video, dude. Oh, my god.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- our centerfield camera --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's moving a lot right now.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone just stay calm, you know please. The roll aftershock there from Saturday continues.

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JUAN FERNANDEZ,ANCHOR, THE KCAL9 NEWS: It continues to --

SARA DONCHEY, ANCHOR, THE KCAL9 NEWS: It continues. It's a very strong earthquake.

FERNANDEZ: -- rattle. It's pretty strong.

DONCHEY: 8:21 on the air here. We're experiencing very strong shaking.

FERNANDEZ: Wow.

DONCHEY: I think we need to get under the desk.

FERNANDEZ: All right. We're going to go to break. We'll be right back this. Wow.

DONCHEY: We'll be right back. We'll be right back.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to back away from the store.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody OK?

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the pictures and the walls and everything turned over on us. We live on a top floor in an apartment complex, so we was all trying to come out the home and we are shaking down just fierce --

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just noticed something that the whole entire steps was actually shaking and there it was leaning like almost 90 degrees and almost fell. And I was like you need to get out of here right now -- right now.

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LUCY JONES, USGS SEISMOLOGIST: This is definitely a robust sequence, but it's far from unprecedented. It's just on the high side of average.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would probably start taking some stuff off of the walls if there it's not already down. In high places, make sure that you're not sleeping under something that's still hung up.

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CABRERA: Our earthquake coverage continues here on CNN.

We are also monitoring all the events happening on the 20/20 campaign trail this weekend. Many of the candidates are in New Orleans at the Essence Festival.

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CABRERA: You can see Senator Elizabeth Warren talking to the crowd right now.Let's listen in.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- kids who wants an education. Oh, and there's more, we could also level the playing field and that means a $50 billion investment into historically black colleges and universities.

And just one more I want to mention, all out of that same $0.02, we could cancel student loan debt for 95 percent of the kids who've got it.We can start to close that black/white wealth gap.

And it's not just that I have a housing plan to build 3.2 million new housing units in this country and to address the generational impact of redlining that our government used to discriminate against black citizens.

I have a plan to deal with the maternal health crisis in this country that black women are dying at three and four times the rate of white women.It's time for some accountability in this system.

And I have a plan to value the work of black women. 70% of black mothers are the primary wage earners and their families, but they earn only $0.61 on the $1 for what white men earn. [15:55:00]So what I've decided is no more vague talk about this.On day one my plan is to use the power of the federal government on a $0.5 trillion of government contracts to make sure that every government contractor in this country doesn't just talk the talk, but walks the walk on equal pay, for equal work and a truly diverse workforce that looks like America.

So those are just some of the plans.Yes, I talkabout plans all day long.But you know a lot of folks say to me?It's just too hard.You're trying to do too much.

And I think about what do you think they said to the abolitionists?Just too hard, quit now.What did they say to the suffragettes?Too hard, you won't get this done.Quit now.What did they say to the early union organizers?Just quit now. What did they --

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CABRERA: Again, you've been listening in to Elizabeth Warren in New Orleans this weakened.

We are covering some of breaking news stories and I want to go back to Plantation, Florida where at least 20 people are injured in an explosion at a shopping center. We'll go live to the scene next. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

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