日本这次地震有多严重?

We are talking now to Dr. Michio Kaku, our friend from City University of New York, Physicist. Just as important, you have friends and family in Japan, you've been in contact with them?

That's right. We tried to call them on the telephone. And they told me, first of all, they saw entire Tokyo metro system is knocked down. One of my relatives can't go home. He has to walk home. And the taxi lines... Can you imagine New York City parallels 10 million people waiting for a taxi? The airports are out. You can't get out. The phone lines are dead, we can't even contact our relatives any more. One relative told me that she was walking down Ginza, downtown Tokyo, she could actually see the building sway. Can you imagine?

They were built to stand the earthquakes.

That's right, they are built to actually sway with the earthquake. But can you imagine walking down Fifth Avenue and see the Empire State Building sway? That's what you see now in Japan.

Let's talk a little bit more about what is going on here beneath. Eh...So you nodding your head when the Meri Honolulu was telling Elisabeth that these waves are very uNPRedictable.

Very uNPRedictable. They travel at jetliner speed, 500 to 700 miles per hour. And the Pacific Ocean is a pond. A pond that compares to the enormous energy released that surges right across the Pacific. And it's gonna hit the United States, it's gonna hit Hawaii. And that' why we are very concerned about damage. Remember that the tsunami in Japan when a mile inland. Can you imagine a mile inland of the coast of a very heavily populated area?

What is it about this ring of fire that we're all beginning to learn so much about?

Yeah, 90% of our earthquakes take place in this ring of fire from Philippines up to Japan, up to the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, California, Chile. Remember the Chilean earthquake just a few years ago? The axis of the earth itself shifted slightly because of the Chilean earthquake. This earthquake is on that scale, that's the ring of fire where most earthquakes are concentrated.

We've already seen 19 aftershocks as small earthquakes as due to reported. Also in Hawaii this morning, 4.5. Shall we expect more aftershocks?

I think we should. Yes. Definitely there will be more aftershocks. Every time you have a big one, another aftershock comes very soon after that. Already the people in Japan are bracing for the next one.

Bracing for the next one. OK. Dr. Michio Kaku. Thanks very much!