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CNN Live At Daybreak

Race Against Time

Aired May 23, 2003 - 05:37   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It's a race against time in Algiers. Rescuers still searching for survivors of Wednesday's powerful earthquake and the death toll just keeps on rising.
Our Rym Brahimi joins us live by phone from the capital, Algiers, with the latest -- and, Rym, we understand more than 1,000 people have been killed.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol, 1,092 dead and 6,782 injured. Those are the latest figures being released by the Algerian government. Now, the Algerian government has put out, has decreed a three day mourning period. Today is the second day and it's Friday, so it's quite quiet, Friday being the weekend and the Muslim holy day, if you will, or the Muslim day of rest. It's very quiet here in the Algerian capital. But people are still very much in shock, which is part of why this has, there's a very eerie, silent atmosphere here.

People have spent their second night outside. They're still afraid to go back to buildings that they say could still threaten to crumble. In some of the areas east of the capital, entire buildings and homes have been flattened. And as you were saying, Carol, a race against time for rescue teams that are now coming in from very different countries to help because there's still a lot of people caught under the rubble -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, I was just wondering then, I know hospitals completely collapsed, apartment buildings have completely collapsed. How many people do they think they'll find alive in the rubble?

BRAHIMI: Well, I think it's a very delicate question because there's a lot of uncertainty there. So the government and the rescue teams have been unwilling to actually put out a figure. They say that they are still hearing people under rubble that are alive and that they can maybe pull out, but, again, it's a question of how fast they can get to them and a lot of people, again, are afraid. There's also been a lot of aftershocks. And so there's all this concern, as well, and a lot of equipment is still lacking.

Some rescue teams from abroad have arrived with sniffer dogs, Russians, French teams, Swiss teams have brought in a lot of equipment, as well, specialized equipment to try and locate people and dig out as much as they can.

But in many other areas, they've just been digging out with their bare hands and, of course, that's a very difficult thing to do when time is of the essence -- Carol. COSTELLO: Yes, we saw them doing just that.

Rym Brahimi live from Algeria this morning.

Many thanks.

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 23, 2003 - 05:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It's a race against time in Algiers. Rescuers still searching for survivors of Wednesday's powerful earthquake and the death toll just keeps on rising.
Our Rym Brahimi joins us live by phone from the capital, Algiers, with the latest -- and, Rym, we understand more than 1,000 people have been killed.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol, 1,092 dead and 6,782 injured. Those are the latest figures being released by the Algerian government. Now, the Algerian government has put out, has decreed a three day mourning period. Today is the second day and it's Friday, so it's quite quiet, Friday being the weekend and the Muslim holy day, if you will, or the Muslim day of rest. It's very quiet here in the Algerian capital. But people are still very much in shock, which is part of why this has, there's a very eerie, silent atmosphere here.

People have spent their second night outside. They're still afraid to go back to buildings that they say could still threaten to crumble. In some of the areas east of the capital, entire buildings and homes have been flattened. And as you were saying, Carol, a race against time for rescue teams that are now coming in from very different countries to help because there's still a lot of people caught under the rubble -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, I was just wondering then, I know hospitals completely collapsed, apartment buildings have completely collapsed. How many people do they think they'll find alive in the rubble?

BRAHIMI: Well, I think it's a very delicate question because there's a lot of uncertainty there. So the government and the rescue teams have been unwilling to actually put out a figure. They say that they are still hearing people under rubble that are alive and that they can maybe pull out, but, again, it's a question of how fast they can get to them and a lot of people, again, are afraid. There's also been a lot of aftershocks. And so there's all this concern, as well, and a lot of equipment is still lacking.

Some rescue teams from abroad have arrived with sniffer dogs, Russians, French teams, Swiss teams have brought in a lot of equipment, as well, specialized equipment to try and locate people and dig out as much as they can.

But in many other areas, they've just been digging out with their bare hands and, of course, that's a very difficult thing to do when time is of the essence -- Carol. COSTELLO: Yes, we saw them doing just that.

Rym Brahimi live from Algeria this morning.

Many thanks.

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