5.5 Magnitude Aftershock in Italy
PHILLIPS: Well, even as the searches continue and survivors mourn, the earth is still moving in central Italy. Live pictures right now. The L'Aquila area just feeling a very strong aftershock within the last 20 minutes or so. We're being told 5.6. The death toll has risen to at least 207 in and around that city. Search crews still hoping to find survivors in that rubble. More than 36 hours it's been since that initial quake. Chad, what can you tell us about the aftershock?</s>CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It appears now, Kyra, that this aftershock may be right under the city there of L'Aquila. Now, this whole area has been shaking for the past couple of days. First, a 6.3, then a 4.9, then a 4.6 and then a 4.3. But here, this one was a 5.6. And if it's right under the city, this is the epicenter. And this is that bloom. That eight feet or eight miles' worth of dirt that's up against the crust is going to start to shake. Let me show you this, and I'm going to go ahead and take this Google Earth map. And I'm going to take you to the first quake and then I'll take you to the new quake. Now, sometimes these quakes move around a little bit as the seismologists look at the shake. But there, that one right there, that's the 6.3. That was the original quake. This one here in red, it's red because it's the latest quake, a 5.6. And look where it is in the town. Literally, Kyra -- I'm going to zoom right in -- it is right under the city itself, which means above that epicenter is where the most shaking went on. So, even though this was only a 5.6, it may have been shaking more like a 6.0 that was a little farther away, like the 6.3 we had. So this is probably going to cause some shaken nerves for sure.</s>PHILLIPS: And we could have more aftershocks as well, right?</s>MYERS: No question about it. Back in 1997, they had three months of 5.0 and 6.0s for a three-month stretch. And it's just kind of that series. This is the Apennines Mountain range. They're at about 2,3000 feet. The mountains are still groaning and moving and stretching, and there's even a subduction zone there. So many forces right there in central Italy. There have been 2,000 earthquakes last year. Not all of them, obviously, this big. But this is an earthquake-prone area for sure.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, and so you've got that initial quake, then you see this aftershock at 5.6. Now, an aftershock can be considered another little mini earthquake, right, or a tremor? Is the that the same thing or is there a difference between the two?</s>MYERS: Even though this a little farther away, maybe four miles from the original quake, I would absolutely think that this is an aftershock of the same quake that we had a couple of days ago.</s>PHILLIPS: Got it.</s>MYERS: But, you know, if you can get -- if you get a 3.0, then all of a sudden it can be a foreshock, which means not an aftershock. It can portend something else to come. Now, because we've already had the 6.3, this wouldn't be the foreshock, this would be an aftershock because this is smaller than the original quake.</s>PHILLIPS: Got it, Chad. Thanks. And for the very latest, let's get to CNN's Fionnuala Sweeney. She's right there on the ground in L'Aquila. Fionnuala was talking to workers last time we talked to try to find survivors in that rubble. Any more luck, Fionnuala?</s>FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, there hasn't been. Actually, let me -- I've just contradicted myself, Kyra. Within the last hour, a woman was reported to have been taken alive. But I have to say that right now, there's a lot of, let's say, enthusiasm in the atmosphere, because people are really energized following that tremor that we experienced about half an hour ago. Where we're standing here is at the piazza, one of many tent cities that have been established in the last 24 hours. This particular one, Kyra, was established just early this morning by volunteers. And the response of the Italian civil authorities has been really quite astonishing. And a few moments ago I was talking to the head of the Red Cross, who told me that two years ago, all the different civil protection agencies in this country got together to decide how they could best coordinate their response to something like this. The death toll, 209 now, as we know. We're just hearing, as I speak to you, that this tremor caused damage at the railroad nearby, but everybody is still obviously gathering information, as it only happened in the last few moments. But I think the thing to point out here is what is upsetting people is that 209 people died, and people believe that had the buildings been in better condition, that this death toll could have been much, much lower.</s>PHILLIPS: Fionnuala Sweeney, we'll continue to talk. Thank you. Now, remember, there are many relief organizations on the ground actively helping victims of the earthquake in Italy. You'll find links to many of them on our "Impact Your World" page. That's at cnn.com/impact. Even as aftershocks rattle Italy, another big earthquake has hit in the Pacific. The epicenter of the 6.9 quake just east of Kuril Islands, which are claimed by both Russia and Japan. Fewer than 20,000 people live there. They're no strangers to seismic activity. It's part of the so-called Ring of Fire, as you know, a region that sees about 90 percent of the world's earthquakes. Hurricane season 2009, what does it hold? Well, the experts made their predictions and now they've changed their minds. We're going to find out what's going on from Chad Myers.