kristen: thank you so much for joining us for "getting answers" tonight, the horrific images, thousands of buildings coming down in a catastrophic earthquake. the death toll in the thousands and growing tonight. the images coming in at this hour. the urgent search for any survivors. the magnitude 7.8 quake hitting in the middle of the night, as families were sleeping. thousands of apartment buildings and homes coming down across turkey and syria. the most powerful quake in that region in 100 years. victims trapped in the rubble tonight. rescue teams digging through metal and concrete. search teams begging for silence so they can listen for survivors. rescuers pulling an injured child from the rubble. dozens of aftershocks rocking the region tonight. the u.s. now among 45 countries pledging support. our marcus moore is in turkey tonight.

here at home this evening, the warnings of a possible imminent explosion sending families fleeing in ohio. a train carrying dangerous chemicals derailing, forcing evacuations. several of the cars carrying vinyl chloride. and tonight, the careful operation under way at this hour at the site. trying to assert a potential explosion. tonight, news on that chinese spy balloon shot down by the u.s. by an f-22. the teams moving quickly to recover key pieces. the debris field more than 15 football fields wide. and what we're already learning tonight about the balloon, how it maneuvered. and the trained u.s. navy teams now using unmanned, underwater vehicles to detect whether there could be any explosives. martha raddatz right had here with me tonight on what she's learned. here in washington, president biden on the eve of his state of the union address, after that very promising jobs report, and after some key victories, including that bipartisan infrastructure law. the white house knows many

americans still are not feeling this. what we've learned about his address. and mary bruce is standing by live at the white house. tonight, two suspects under arrest for allegedly plotting to attack five electrical substations. the city they were about to target, officials say. federal prosecutors say one suspect is the founder of a neo-nazi group. the close call on the runway. two planes less than 100 feet apart. a southwest passenger jet told by air traffic control it could use a key runway, but there was a fedex jet coming in for a landing on the same runway. tonight, we've learned how close those planes came. gio benitez with new reporting. and america strong tonight. the second grade class and what they just witnessed. this was a lesson unlike any other, and you have to see it. and good evening tonight

from washington, where the white house tonight says that the u.s. is now among the many countries racing to help after that catastrophic earthquake. the images are horrific tonight, and it is heartbreaking. the scope of the loss continues to mount, after that powerful earthquake striking turkey near the border with syria. the worst to strike there in a century. the 7.8 quake, followed by multiple aftershocks now. take a look at the terrifying moment this apartment building collapses, hours after the initial quake. people right there running for their lives. tonight, the staggering toll. more than 3,700 lives lost and still rising. a reporter on the scene spotting a woman and her children in that haze there, rushing to help them get to safety. near the epicenter tonight, almost total destruction. survivors sal sajing anything they can. millions across that region now homeless tonight. the desperate search for survivors. rescuers digging through flattened buildings, often using their hands to dig. the urgent search for anyone who might be alive. there were calls for silence, to

listen for survivors, and then this moment right here, a toddler pulled out alive. we have just learned that president biden has talked with turkey's president erdogan and the u.s. and dozens of other countries are pledging immediate help tonight. abc's marcus moore leading us off in istanbul, and we warn you, the images are very difficult. >> reporter: tonight, the most powerful earthquake to hit turkey in 10 0 years striking in the middle of night. videos showing the moment that 7.8 mall any tuesday quake hit. can you hear the shaking. and see power flashes. this town plunged into darkness. the danger persisting through the day. clouds of debris billowing into the street. this building collapses. the region rocked by at least 75 aftershocks. first responders on the scene of this collapsed building when the one next to it comes crashing down, too. this reporter covering the

urgent search and rescue efforts when the earth shakes again. pople running for their lives. you can hear the buildings collapsing. witnesses turning around to see this -- moments a mother and her children, racing to help them get to safety. "wait, wait," this man says, as the frantic search for survivors began before dawn. rescuers pausing here to listen for signs of life. and glimmers of hope, as first responders pull this survivor from the debris. after daybreak west of aleppo, rescuers lifting an injured child from the rubble. and to the north of the city, saving this toddler. sadly, her mother and two siblings all killed. the little girl now staying with relatives. in turkey, rescuers pulling this man out of a tiny crevasse.

this survivor comparing the quake to doomsday. saying a building collapsed on him and his wife. he doesn't think she survived. across the quake zone, the death toll rising steadily throughout the day. we now know more than 3,700 people were killed. the sheer horror. rescuers recovering the body of a newborn baby. the infant's father overcome with grief, holding his baby, collapsing to his knees. this woman desperate for word from her daughter and her family. the bedroom was right over there, she says. and at this overwhelmed hospital, a doctor making this plea. >> we have information that hundreds of patients are still under the debris. the situation is too bad. we need your jet help. >> reporter: and to, those trapped in the debris screaming for help. "speak out loud," this man said.

"help, help," a woman responds. at least 45 countries pledging support, including the united states. president biden speaking with turkey's president erdogan late today, saying u.s. search and rescue teams are, quote, deploying quickly to the region. >> the scope of this is just unimaginable tonight. marcus moore with us from istanbul, turkey. and marcus, i know the search for survivors well under way. they will not give up, they never do, and we all expect this to last for several days, this search for any potential survivors? >> reporter: and david, the next 24 to 48 hours will be critical. more than 5,600 buildings collapsed here in turkey and in syria, trapping scores of people in the rubble. with below freezing temperatures and now winter snow falling on those devastated towns and villages tonight. david? >> marcus moore in turkey. marcus, thank you. meantime, back here in the u.s. tonight, and to the urgent call to evacuate amid fears of

an imminent explosion in ohio after a train derailed, carrying toxic chemicals. tonight, the dangerous operation now under way. authorities trying to drain the toxic liquid from inside those cars, and then burn them, controlled burns, to try to avoid any explosion. abc's alex presha is in east palestine, ohio. >> reporter: tonight, that towering column of smoke and flames. authorities burning chemicals at the site of the massive train derailment in east palestine, ohio. 20 miles south of youngstown. five of those cars carrying vinyl chloride. it is used to make flammable. have you ever seen something like this? >> no, i've never experienced anything like this. >> reporter: authorities deciding late today to conduct a controlled release, making small holes in the cars, draining the chemicals into a trench. >> inside that trench will be flares alighting that trench that will light off the material. this allows us to control that operation and not have the car react and do it itself. >> reporter: officials expanding the evacuation zone for a

possible toxic plume from that release. now, extending over the pennsylvania border. >> those in the red area -- those are in the red area are facing grave danger of death if they are still in that area. >> reporter: janet and her family got out after officials warned of an imminent explosion late last night. >> it hit that something bad's going to happen and we just need to leave. >> reporter: the 150-car norfolk southern railroad train was headed to pennsylvania from illinois when it derailed friday night. the ntsb is studying the train's data recorder and videos that may show mechanical issues with one of the rail cars. david, tonight, norfolk southern says that controlled release was completed successfully. the state emergency management agency doesn't believe that there's any risk to the air or the water, but david, they tell me they're going to continue to monitor both in the coming days and weeks. david? >> alex presha in ohio for us tonight. alex, thank you. we're going to turn now to

the u.s. navy search for the remnants of that chinese spy balloon shot down by an f-22 off the coast of south carolina. a closer look tonight before it was brought down, that technology bay below it. how did it maneuver, how did it communicate? what we've learned here tonight. and of course, the moment a missile from an f-22 jet bringing that balloon tonight. tonight, the trained navy team looking for clues in the water, the debris field, we're told, is more than 15 football fields wide. they're using unmanned, underwater vehicles to defect if there were any explosives on that balloon. tonight, china insisting it was a weather balloon, saying the shooting was an indiscriminate action on the part of the u.s. here's our chief global affairs correspondent martha raddatz tonight. >> reporter: tonight, the military covering a vast expansion of ocean, 15 football fields by 15 football fields wide, looking for pieces of that chinese spy balloon. the balloon brought down over the weekend by a missile fired

from an f-22 fighter jet. >> frank one, splash one. the balloon is completely destroyed. >> boom! >> reporter: back on land, cameras capturing the spectacle. the pentagon saying they have already recovered portions of the balloon, which spanned 200 feet and carried a technology bay the size of three buses. a special team trained in handling explosive heading out to the site in the event that the debris contains hazardous material. unmanned, underwater vehicles will sweep for scraps. officials insist the u.s. will gather valuable information from the debris already revealing new details. the balloon had propellers, they say, and a rudder. >> balloon had the ability to maneuver itself, to speed up, to slow down, and to turn. >> reporter: senior administration officials say the balloon first entered american

air space over alaska on january 28th, before heading into canada and then re-entering the continental u.s. last tuesday. >> came into the united states from canada. i told the defense department i wanted to shoot it down as soon as was appropriate. >> reporter: the balloon was allowed to drift over the nation until saturday. the pentagon determined shooting it down over land would risk lives on the ground. >> and martha raddatz with us here now. martha, you've been reporting on this all weekend long. president biden said he was ready to shoot this down the moment they detected it over the continental u.s., but we've learned that this is not the first time one of these massive chinese balloons has been over the u.s. >> reporter: exactly, david. there have been at least four incursions in recent years. they were very different. they were off the coast of the u.s. and very brief, but what's frightening about this is the u.s. military had no idea those incursions were happening until afterwards. in fact, the head of norad said

today, it's my possibility to detect threats to north america. it will toll you that we did not detect those threats. fortunately, they detected this one, david. >> this one they detected. martha raddatz, thank you. we are here, by the way, on the eve of president biden's state of the union address. it comes amid americans growing concerns over the economy, the war in ukraine, these new tensions with china, among other things. let's get right to our senior white house correspondent mary bruce at the white house tonight. the president and this white house, of course, pointing to victories along the way, from the bipartisan infrastructure law set to create thousands of jobs, rebuild bridges and highways, and, of course, this new unexpected jobs report in the last couple of days, much better than expected. but mary, given the polling, even from abc news and other outlets, the president knows pt this. >> reporter: he does, david. but the president will argue that the economy is heading in the right direction and that his policies are working. we expect him to highlight that stunningly strong jobs report last month, the unemployment at

a 53-year low. and he will argue that his policies like the bipartisan inf infrastructure bill and the inflation reduction act are making americans lives better. but the president also knows that he is facing real headwinds here. that latest poll of ours showing that 4 in 10 americans feel they are worse off financially now than when biden took office. but it shows that americans have real concerns about the republi republicans' approach, too. our poll shows that 26% support how republicans are handling this issue. and, of course, david, looming large over all of this, the upcoming presidential race. tomorrow night, a chance for biden to outline why he feels he deserves another four years. david? >> yeah, perhaps the campaign begins for him tomorrow night. mary bruce tonight. mary, thank you. of course, mary, mar than, jon karl, the entire team will be here for abc news live coverage tomorrow night in prime time, the state of the union address and the republican response tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on abc. but we do continue with the news here tonight, and the fbi

arresting two people for allegedly plotting to attack five electrical substations around baltimore. authorities say the plan was to hit all of the stations in a single day. aiming to, quote, completely destroy the city. federal prosecutors tonight say one suspect is the founder of a neo-nazi group. here's our chief justice correspondent pierre thomas now. >> reporter: tonight, the fbi accusing two suspected radicals fuels by racial hate of plotting to target the city of baltimore's electrical grid in the hopes of causing pain and chaos. >> the accused were not just talking. but taking steps to fulfill their threats and further their extremist goals. >> reporter: the fbi says this is sarah beth clendaniel. her plan? >> no shoot multiple electrical substations in the baltimore area, aiming to, quote, completely destroy this whole season. >> reporter: her alleged partner in crime, brandon russell, the founder of a neo-nazi group.

only recently out of prison for possessioning illegal explosives. the fbi claims russell wanted to inflict as much pain as possible on the predominantly black city of baltimore. writing to an undercover fbi informant that he wanted to carry out the attack when there's the greatest strain on the grid. russell stating that such an attack could lead to cascading failure, costing billions of dollars. david, fbi and homeland security officials have warned in recent bulletins that white supremacists and other radicals are plotting to attack the electrical grid. there have been several such assaults on substations across the nation in recent months, including multiple involved incidents in north carolina. david? >> pierre thomas, thank you. we turn now to the latest very close call at an airport in this country. this time, at the airport in austin. a southwest airlines passenger jet taking off, given the go ahead to use the runway, but a fedex jet was landing on that same runway. tonight here, we learned just

how close they came to each other. gio benitez covers aviation for us. >> reporter: tonight, an urgent federal investigation under way at the austin airport after what fedex t over thend. cargo jet and a southwest airlines passenger plane. >> fedex 1432, you are cleared to land. >> reporter: air traffic control giving fedex permission to land and soon after giving the southwest plane permission to enter that same runway to cake off. >> confirm. >> rolling now. >> reporter: less than 30 seconds later. >> swetouthwest, abort. >> reporter: southwest forced to change course. the two planes coming within 100 feet of one another. >> we know it was less than 100 feet. they were in very close proximity to each other. >> reporter: just last month at jfk, a delta pilot slamming on the breaks after almost colliding with an american airlines plane that crossed the

wrong runway. >> [ bleep ], delta 1943, cancel takeoff plans. delta 1943, cancel takeoff plans. >> reporter: and david, jfk airport has an automated alarm system to warn pilots about potential collisions. austin does not. david? >> all right, gio benitez tonight. thank you. when we come back here, tracking this new cross-country storm. snow, heavy rain, possible flooding. and a potential coastal storm then moving into the northeast this week. we'll time it all out in a moment. moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. but now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq. rinvoq is not a steroid, topical, or injection. it's one pill, once a day, that's effective

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finally tonight here, a little girl named jasmine. definitely america strong. in danville, alabama, mrs mrs. hollins second grade class with and extraordinary lesson on the importance of family. one of their classmates, 9-year-old jasmine, was about to get her forever family. that class wanted to be there with her. all wearing matching t-shirts at the courthouse, and holding sipes, "happy jasmine day." after a year with her current foster parents, melanie and anthony brown, this was the moment. cheering when the judge makes it final. >> jasmine! >> and look at this. afterward, the entire school

lining the hallways, cheering now that she was officially jasmine brown. >> jasmine! >> and right here tonight -- >> hi, mr. david! >> the principal and jasmine's second grade css. >> they had an experience of the lifetime. >> all of the kids were so excited. >> hi, david. >> her forever mom, mel knee, and jasmine, now home and grateful. >> to have the class there to be with her and support her on that day, it was just very exciting. >> they were there for me and that they loved me and they cared for me. >> tonight, jasmine thankful for her forever parents, and for that extended family at school. >> bye, mr. david! >> we are so glad jasmine is home. i'll see you right back here tomorrow night. good night.

>> building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. >> this is really an innovative approach we are taking here in santa clara county. kristen: a plan to boost to get illegal guns off the streets. with a new gun safety strategy, it focuses on keeping the weapons out of the hands of certain people in the first place. good afternoon, i'm kristen sze. dan: and i am dan ashley. they simply do not have the sources to remove guns from people who pose a threat to the community. kristen: tomorrow, leaders of expect to expand their task force. abc 7 news reporter dustin dorsey has more. dustin: the devastating impact of gun violence continue to be filled across the country, in some instances too close to home. leaders and their clarity --

santa clara county wants to make it so no families have to feel the emotional pain again. >> we'll know in our community too well the negative impact of gun violence, and in some ways, the thing i am most concerned about as we get used too thinking of gun violence as part of our everyday lives, but here in our community, we want to say no to that. dustin: that is why tomorrow at the santa clara county board of supervisors meeting, nearly $1 million is expected to be approved to expand the gun violence team from five members to 23. these will be filled by prosecutors and investigators with the district attorneys offices, sheriff's deputies, police officers, and law enforcement, the first of its kind in the bay area and student dramatically increase the number of seized guns. >> california has some of the most robust and extensive gun laws in the country, but they need to beat meaningful, they need to be effective, and the way they are going to be meaningful and effective is if we are making them meaningful, making them effective, by enforcing them. dustin: