Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Turkey Quake Rescue, Search Stopped

Aired May 02, 2003 - 06:07   ET

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


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


ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, we're going to go to Turkey to talk about that earthquake recovery effort there. A critical search for trapped children has been halted, despite signs that some of the youngsters may be buried alive beneath their collapsed dormitory.
We're going to take you to the dorm site now in the town of Bingol. Our Gavin Morris is there and joins us now by videophone -- Gavin.

GAVIN MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Arthel, I can tell you that the slight bit of good news here is that the recovery effort has resumed. Behind me, you can see a lot of orange overalls very busily doing all sorts of things. It stopped a few moments ago, because there was firstly a fear that an aftershock might destabilize the building, and then they decided to get some sensory devices in there to try and pick up any signs of sound or anything else that indicates that the children inside are still alive.

Now, we can tell you at the moment they think there are somewhere in the region of 40 children still trapped inside this school. They've now been in there for more than 33 hours. This earthquake happened more than a day ago, and it devastated not only this school, but many things throughout the region.

Now, the workers here find that increasingly they are concerned because there is only a matter of time before they have to give up the recovery effort. They still think there are some survivors in there. In fact, not so long ago, they brought one out to cheers from the crowd, cheers from a lot of the parents that have gathered here.

But this emergency is going on all over town, and also some anger breaking out. We saw just a couple of hours ago there was a protest in the middle of the town. Shots were fired by the police. It was quite violent, anger spilling over from the locals who really are not only concerned about their people that are still trapped, but they're concerned about how they're going to get food and water and all of the other essentials.

That protest, we can now say, many shots were fired, the crowd eventually dispersed, and just in the last few minutes, they have announced that they have sacked the police chief here in the town for the reaction of the police to those crowds.

So, there's civil unrest in the town, and still an emergency still fully under way -- Arthel. NEVILLE: Gavin, I want to clarify something now. Are you saying that the reason that they may discontinue the rescue efforts for those students trapped in the rubble of that dorm because of possible aftershocks?

MORRIS: There have been a whole host of aftershocks, Arthel, all the way through, ever since the first one, some of them earthquakes in themselves. And even today, as I say, more than 24 hours on, there have been more. There was one where they really did clear the site, because aftershocks, you could feel it. The ground was shaky, and the buildings all around here are really in a very tenuous situation.

Aftershocks continuing, they are settling down, so more recovery work is able to go on -- Arthel.

NEVILLE: OK, Gavin Morris, thank you very much for that report.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired May 2, 2003 - 06:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, we're going to go to Turkey to talk about that earthquake recovery effort there. A critical search for trapped children has been halted, despite signs that some of the youngsters may be buried alive beneath their collapsed dormitory.
We're going to take you to the dorm site now in the town of Bingol. Our Gavin Morris is there and joins us now by videophone -- Gavin.

GAVIN MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Arthel, I can tell you that the slight bit of good news here is that the recovery effort has resumed. Behind me, you can see a lot of orange overalls very busily doing all sorts of things. It stopped a few moments ago, because there was firstly a fear that an aftershock might destabilize the building, and then they decided to get some sensory devices in there to try and pick up any signs of sound or anything else that indicates that the children inside are still alive.

Now, we can tell you at the moment they think there are somewhere in the region of 40 children still trapped inside this school. They've now been in there for more than 33 hours. This earthquake happened more than a day ago, and it devastated not only this school, but many things throughout the region.

Now, the workers here find that increasingly they are concerned because there is only a matter of time before they have to give up the recovery effort. They still think there are some survivors in there. In fact, not so long ago, they brought one out to cheers from the crowd, cheers from a lot of the parents that have gathered here.

But this emergency is going on all over town, and also some anger breaking out. We saw just a couple of hours ago there was a protest in the middle of the town. Shots were fired by the police. It was quite violent, anger spilling over from the locals who really are not only concerned about their people that are still trapped, but they're concerned about how they're going to get food and water and all of the other essentials.

That protest, we can now say, many shots were fired, the crowd eventually dispersed, and just in the last few minutes, they have announced that they have sacked the police chief here in the town for the reaction of the police to those crowds.

So, there's civil unrest in the town, and still an emergency still fully under way -- Arthel. NEVILLE: Gavin, I want to clarify something now. Are you saying that the reason that they may discontinue the rescue efforts for those students trapped in the rubble of that dorm because of possible aftershocks?

MORRIS: There have been a whole host of aftershocks, Arthel, all the way through, ever since the first one, some of them earthquakes in themselves. And even today, as I say, more than 24 hours on, there have been more. There was one where they really did clear the site, because aftershocks, you could feel it. The ground was shaky, and the buildings all around here are really in a very tenuous situation.

Aftershocks continuing, they are settling down, so more recovery work is able to go on -- Arthel.

NEVILLE: OK, Gavin Morris, thank you very much for that report.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.