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CNN Sunday Morning
Earthquake Strikes 5 Southeast Asian Countries; Computer Crash Strands Thousands of Travelers
Aired December 26, 2004 - 08:00 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.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Today Ukrainians are trying to elect a president voting for the third time in two months. Kremlin backed candidate, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich faces Viktor Yushchenko, who favors closer ties to the west.
The vote comes after Ukraine's constitutional court overturned some electoral reforms intended to prevent fraud.
It's airline chaos as thousands of Christmas travelers are stranded by a computer crash at ComAir and U.S. Airways is trying to reconnect passengers with thousands of pieces of their lost luggage. We'll have a live update on the whole mess in just a couple of minutes.
The celebration of Kwaanza begins today. The non-religious holiday was inspired by the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. It is observed by more than 20 million people in the U.S., Canada, England and the Caribbean along with Africa.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Here are some of the stories that we are working on for you this morning. An experts point of view between earthquakes and Tsunamis. We'll get a live report from Sri Lanka as well.
And later we will meet an unsung legend of rock-n-roll who has the Rolling Stones on his resume. He has written a book about his years behind the stars.
And in this week's installment of Faces of Faith they believe in one God. Still, so much separates the world's Christians.
HARRIS: Call them tidal waves or Tsunamis they are giant walls of seat water. This animation gives us a small idea about what is devastating southeast Asia this morning triggered by a monster earthquake. Can you make that out there? And more of them may be coming set off by possible after shocks.
To explain these natural disasters, Julie Martinez with the U.S. Geological Survey is on the phone from Golden, Colorado. Julie, good morning.
JULIE MARTINEZ, U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY: Good morning.
HARRIS: Well, let me start with a basic question here. Talk us through this the nuts and bolts. What happened this morning? MARTINEZ: This morning we had a magnitude 8.9 earthquake in (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Sumatra, Indonesia. It was south-southeast of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Indonesia. It was in the ocean and it generated some tsunamis.
HARRIS: OK. It generated the tsunamis. Now explain to us what the tsunamis are and try to help us with a visual of this. These are, am I understand this correctly, huge waves that work under the sea along the floor of the sea?
MARTINEZ: That's correct. They do -- they are under water and once they hit the coast that's when you would see the sea level rise.
HARRIS: OK. From your understanding where does this earthquake, 8.9, where does it rank in terms of all time biggest earthquakes?
MARTINEZ: It's actually the fifth largest earthquake since 1900. And it is the largest earthquake since the Prince William Sound earthquake in Alaska of 1964.
HARRIS: And Julie what happens her? Explain to us what causes an earthquake. I think we all sort of understand that there are big plates that end up moving and shifting and -- but I'll have you give us a better explanation than that.
MARTINEZ: No, that's actually a good explanation. It's a collision of the plates. In this case it was the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). The collision of the Australian and Indonesia plates (ph), Burma plates (ph). And it -- this one actually, due to the size, it actually ruptured about 1,000 kilometers of the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) fault.
HARRIS: Julie, any way to predict if we will see -- I now we'll see aftershocks, but how big some of those after chocks might be. I think there was one report of a 7.3 aftershock.
MARTINEZ: Yes. That's actually true. That's the largest after shock that we have located so far, that was a 7.3. The aftershocks will probably continue for days, weeks, months, maybe even years.
HARRIS: Will we get more of these tsunamis attached to these aftershocks?
MARTINEZ: It depends upon the size of the aftershocks. If the aftershock is large enough it can also generate another Tsunamis.
HARRIS: Julie, I'm doing a little fishing here with you. Tell me what it is you're most curious to know what you're looking out for -- the kind of information you're looking to receive from the analysis of this earthquake?
MARTINEZ: Most -- as far as research?
HARRIS: Yes. Scientifically what kind of information are you curious to know about? I mean each of these events is new and singular unto itself. What are you looking for? MARTINEZ: It's -- after everything dies down it's very interesting to see the rupture and how it has affected various parts of the faults.
HARRIS: OK Julie. I was doing a little fishing there. Appreciate your going along with me. I appreciate it.
Julie Martinez with the U.S. Geological Survey. Julie, thanks for getting up very early in the morning out there in Golden, Colorado.
MARTINEZ: Thank you.
HARRIS: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Now the tsunamis from this earthquake killed hundreds in Thailand. We're still looking for an official number there, but to get the latest we want to go to Aneesh Raman in Phuket, Thailand.
Aneesh, what do you know right now?
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Those numbers still vary depending on who you talk to as officials just begin to get into these devastated areas. What we have now is a death toll that is creeping towards 300 steadily.
In terms of a breakdown, at least 200 are presumed dead on the small island of Pepei (ph). Now this falls between the mainland (UNINTELLIGIBLE) part of Thailand and the large Island of Phuket. We're also being told it's an estimated 150, I'm sorry, excuse me over 300. Then 150 others that have died between Phuket and the mainland.
Now the forefront of this rescue effort is where we have just arrived, the island of Phuket. It would have been the hardest hit. It was the closest to the epicenter of this earthquake. It is one of the regions most visited tourist destinations especially, we should note, by western tourist. And this is the peak of that season.
Tourism officials are telling us that the entire western coast of that island has suffered severe damage when around 10 a.m. local two tidal waves, eye witnesses suggesting that they were upwards of 30 feet high, came within moments of each other devouring that coastline.
Giving the morning time people would have been out swimming, they would have been on the beach and in a matter of seconds they would have been under water. Throughout the day other waves have come and fears linger here, as we've heard from other people before that more could be on the way. With aftershocks it's just not known.
Now tourists here just describe an utterly eerie transition within a matter of seconds from what was pristine tranquility. They were all on a holiday vacation to chaos and devastation. As you mentioned that death of 200 that is presumed on the island of Pepei.
It's a smaller less developed island and because of that less development there wasn't as many structures really blocking these waves. So they had much more significant devastation.
On the mainland coast areas of Khravi (ph) and Tungnai (ph) we're hearing that the waves were as high as 10 to 15 feet. There we know of a death toll of at least 48. Some 200 small boats are missing. So it's likely that number will increase.
The Thai government saying without doubt this is unprecedented catastrophe for the country. It's something they have never dealt with before. A massive relief and rescue operation is underway. The navy and other military are involved.
But back to where we are Phuket, relatives of tourists who are undoubtedly worldwide are desperately, I would think, trying to get in touch with the people here. And those who were lucky enough to have survived are just at a complete lost at what comes next, how to reconnect, how to deal with the incredibly tragic holiday they have just endured.
NGUYEN: Which is actually understandable considering all the death and devastation that they've seen so far today.
Aneesh Raman we appreciate that information from Phuket, Thailand. We'll be checking back with you as well this morning.
HARRIS: The biggest natural disaster in 40 years has taken thousands of lives and the toll is rising. Tidal waves triggered by a monster earthquake struck five Southeast Asia countries. CNN's Satinder Bindra is on the phone live from the capital of Sri Lanka, Colombo, this morning.
Satinder?
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, the death toll here is already about 1,700 and officials are fearing that this death toll will continue to rise over the next two hours and then early on tomorrow morning.
Sri Lanka has already declared a state of national emergency and is appealing to the international community for help.
Right now Tony I'm just about 25 kilometers south of the capital city of Colombo and all along the coastline and as far as my eye can see both to my left and to my right all along this coastline hundreds and hundreds of homes have been smashed. They've been smashed like literally pieces of toothpicks. .
Right in front of me there is a fiber glass boat. It smashed right into two. The remnants of peoples homes are out on the Coastal Highway here. In front of me a broken transistor radio. Just to my right a broken wall clock and the belongings of hundreds and hundreds of people are strewn right here on the street.
And this isn't even the worst affected part of this country. In the eastern part of Sri Lanka, Tony, it's estimated more than 1300 people have been killed. All in all, about a million people have been displaced and several western tourists, thousands of them who have come to Sri Lanka for a fun-filled holiday are now being evacuated from their hotels.
They're all being brought to the capital city of Colombo. But it's getting quite tight to find accommodation tonight.
Tony, back to you.
HARRIS: Satinder, that's a wonderful report. It puts us right there on the scene. We appreciate it. Thank you very much.
NGUYEN: And keep up with all the developments, possible aftershocks, more tidal waves and the flooding. All you have to do is go online at cnn.com for updates.
HARRIS: Thousands of air travelers are hoping for the best today. Maybe they'll finally get on those long delayed flights. And airline delays are having a domino affect on others. CNN's Gary Nuremberg is live at Reagan National Airport in Washington.
Good morning, Gary.
GARY NUREMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Well if you are where you want to be this morning you're doing better than tens of thousands of airline passengers, who are not where they want to be, who didn't make it where they wanted to be for Christmas and who spent the night at airports nationwide trying to get to where they want to be.
The biggest problem comes from the Delta subsidiary Comair, which suffered computer problems Friday night and canceled all of its 1160 flights yesterday stranding about 30,000 passengers. Comair then canceled all of its 1160 flights today adding another 30,000 passengers to the mix. Although the Associated Press recently reported that Comair plans to resume a limited schedule later today.
Comair's problems began with those storms late in the week. It caused its computers to lose track of flight crews because of the limited cancellations at the end of the week. The computers couldn't keep up and crashed causing Comair to make those cancellations.
The company said it will do its best to make good.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON BOHNHORST, COMAIR SPOKESMAN: Everyone who will be traveling that had travel plans between the 25th actually going back to the 22nd all the way through January 1st we're offering refunds to. I'm sorry, giving them the ability to rebook without any fees without any charges associated with that.
If you were not able to complete your flights we're offering you refunds. And for those who have been impacted mid-travel we're handling that on a case by case basis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NUREMBERG: In addition to Comair, U.S. Air is having problems this weekend having separated thousands of passengers from their baggage, as many flight attendants and baggage handlers phoned in sick for the weekend causing delays. Twenty nine flights in the U.S. Air schedule have been canceled for today.
Philadelphia was particularly hard hit. U.S. Air filled five plans with luggage only, sent them to a sorting facility in North Carolina so that they could get those bags to the passengers who needed them for Christmas presents. That did not happen and those baggage continue today.
We will keep on top of this as the day develop. And Tony, bring you update throughout the morning.
HARRIS: Gary, we've got to get those bags to the people and the people home. We appreciate it. Gary Nuremberg live at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
NGUYEN: Well no doubt it, it has been a very long time since one U.S. city looked like this. Find out where this not so normal snow fall happened in your weather forecast. That is straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: For the first time in 50 years folks in Louisiana had a white Christmas. You are looking at the streets of New Orleans. It wasn't all merry though. Ice caused long stretches of Interstate 10 to shut down. Travelers will be glad to hear that today's temperatures in that area will get to about 50 degrees, which should take care of any lingering ice.
But you know, weather has been a problem all weekend long especially as people try to head home for the holidays. And now about this time they're ready to get back to their house.
HARRIS: Yes. In some areas, Brad, it's actually staring to improve a little bit. And later in the week if you look ahead a little bit it actually starts to warm up in some spots.
NGUYEN: Time for New Years?
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Let's check the top stories we're following this Sunday morning. Deaths in the thousands after a powerful earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The quake triggered tidal waves. It swept away people in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich votes presumably for himself in Ukraine's presidential election runoff. Yanukovich is the establishment candidate and the favorite in the Russian speaking eastern provinces of Ukraine. Viktor Yushchenko is the opposition candidate, the western leaning darlings of the crowds that have been camping in the streets of Kiev during the campaign. His face was disfigured allegedly by dioxin poisoning. Here in the U.S. thousands of people spent Christmas day standing around in airport terminals. Comair canceled 1100 due to a computer glitch. U.S. Airways looks for lost luggage and canceled nearly 300 flights.
NGUYEN: Not happy campers there. Well, you know Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, but chances are good the name Chuck Leavell doesn't automatically conjure up the Rolling Stones for you. But as CNN's Rhonda Grayson reports he's as much a part of the rock-n-roll legend as those guys out front.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RHONDA GRAYSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You may not think of him when you think of Mick and the boys, but Chuck Leavell is the master of the keyboards behind the Rolling Stones.
Chuck has had quite a musical career playing piano with other rock legends such as the Allman Brothers, George Harrison and Eric Clapton.
After seeing Ray Charles perform he says he knew what he wanted to do with his life.
CHUCK LEAVELL, ROLLING STONES KEYBOARDIST: The epiphany of my life when I was about 13 years old was going to a Ray Charles concert and seeing Ray in person, listening to the band. It was so moving, it was so incredible. It was just chilling. It was fantastic.
I did get to play with Ray once and that was definitely a dream come true.
GRAYSON: His wife of 31 years Rose Lane remembers the phone call that would change their lives.
ROSE LANE, WIFE: He was going to sell the piano and he was going to become a farmer and I thought that was, oh my God no. You're not going to become a farmer and by the way, the Rolling Stones called today and I think you ought to trace that call and...
LEAVELL: I thought she was, you know, pulling my leg.
LANE: You're depressed so here's a bit -- I'll throw you a bone (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
GRAYSON: Chuck has toured with the Rolling Stones for the past 22 years.
LEAVELL: The heart and soul of rock-n-roll is Keith Richards, no doubt about it. You look up rock-n-roll in the dictionary there's a picture of Keith Richards there. He's so passionate with every stroke of the guitar.
GRAYSON (on-camera): When he's not touring with the Rolling Stones, Chuck and his wife call 2200 rolling acres of pine trees their home. GRAYSON: Their home and sanctuary, The Charlane (ph) plantation includes a recording studio and it's where he got the inspiration to write his new book, "Between A Rock and a Home Place," balancing his love of music and conservation.
LEAVELL: I love playing music. I love working with all these different artists. I do feel like the luckiest guy in the world to have played with all of these folks and hey, it's not over yet. My rock -n-roll shoes are still in there waiting for the next tour.
GRAYSON: Rhonda Grayson, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And as Leavell says it's not over yet. In fact, he is playing live right here on CNN in our next hour. So, stayed tuned for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: On this post Christmas Sunday morning we're taking a deeper look into the Christian community. It is a community plagued by deep and long running divisions. Christian leaders are calling for unity, but there are fears that internal conflicts could tear the church apart.
Can something be dome to heal these religious riffs or are the various Christian factions way too divided. We're joined now by the Reverend Robert Franklin from the Cantler (ph) School of Theology at Emory University here in Atlanta.
Reverend Franklin good to see you.
REVEREND ROBERT FRANKLIN, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Thank you, Tony.
HARRIS: And Merry Christmas to you.
FRANKLIN: Yes. Thank you.
HARRIS: Give me a sense -- you know on some level we need to understand the problems before we can begin to fix them. Give me a sense of what you believe are the most pressing concerns in the Christian community that need some time, some conversation, some dialogue.
FRANKLIN: Let me begin by saying that the good news is that the world and certainly our nation is a better place because of all the good works of charity and mercy and justice that the churches are engaged in.
That said, there's enormous division within the church. I think the two pressing issues that I find in sacred scripture that we tend to overlook in our church relations number one, how we treat the poor,. those who are on the margins of society.
And secondly the strangers, those who are not a part of our faith community. Those are enormous concerns to God and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) over look them.
HARRIS: What needs to e the outreach effort? How do you articulate that?
FRANKLIN: Leaders like Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, there have always been leaders who have stepped forth and tried to bride the differences. So I think leadership is called for at this time.
Secondly identifying common ground. What is it that we have in common and being able to bracket those things that divide us.
HARRIS: The numbers of factions within the Christian church, I don't know how many there are but they're just a number of different factions. And the Pope recently called for more of an ecumenical outreach.
FRANKLIN: Yes.
HARRIS: He wants closer relations between all of the factions, denominations in the church. How does that happen?
FRANKLIN: Well the holy father has done us a great service by calling us to unity, calling us to cooperation. We have this covenant that we are all one under God and before God and I think the church leaders lose sight of that. We allow politics to divide us. We allow our differing ethical perspectives on controversial issues to divide us.
But we are really called to affirm what it is we have in common. That is the covenant that binds us together.
FRANKLIN: Closer relations, just to pick a couple of faiths, Christians and Jews for example. The whole issue of Jesus. Is he a man? Is he this divine figure? Where do you stand on that and what is the dialogue that helps bridge an even closer relationship between Christians and Jews? You don't get Christianity after all without Judaism.
FRANKLIN: Christians always be -- recognize their indebtedness to Judaism and ought to bear a certainly humility about that. Never assert moral superiority. As a Christian I believe that Jesus is divine and human. That's party of a mystery that animates all of our faith traditions.
But we can again, find the common ground. We may not be able to sort out the theological differences. But in terms of practice, how we treat our neighbors, how we treat the poor, those who are incarcerated, those who are disabled that's the common ethical agenda.
I love the quote by Rabbi Halaal (ph) that says that the world is equally divided between good and evil and our next act will tip the scale.
HARRIS: That's a good thought. Reverend Franklin thank you. Moving forward that's a great message. Thank you.
FRANKLIN: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Some very interesting insight today.
Well we do have a lot more coming up. A life beyond human limitation. That straight ahead on "HOUSE CALL" with Doctor Sanjay Gupta.
I'm Betty Nguyen.
HARRIS: I'm Tony Harris. Top stories and "HOUSE CALL" next. We'll be back at the top of the hour.
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 December 26, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Today Ukrainians are trying to elect a president voting for the third time in two months. Kremlin backed candidate, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich faces Viktor Yushchenko, who favors closer ties to the west.
The vote comes after Ukraine's constitutional court overturned some electoral reforms intended to prevent fraud.
It's airline chaos as thousands of Christmas travelers are stranded by a computer crash at ComAir and U.S. Airways is trying to reconnect passengers with thousands of pieces of their lost luggage. We'll have a live update on the whole mess in just a couple of minutes.
The celebration of Kwaanza begins today. The non-religious holiday was inspired by the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. It is observed by more than 20 million people in the U.S., Canada, England and the Caribbean along with Africa.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Here are some of the stories that we are working on for you this morning. An experts point of view between earthquakes and Tsunamis. We'll get a live report from Sri Lanka as well.
And later we will meet an unsung legend of rock-n-roll who has the Rolling Stones on his resume. He has written a book about his years behind the stars.
And in this week's installment of Faces of Faith they believe in one God. Still, so much separates the world's Christians.
HARRIS: Call them tidal waves or Tsunamis they are giant walls of seat water. This animation gives us a small idea about what is devastating southeast Asia this morning triggered by a monster earthquake. Can you make that out there? And more of them may be coming set off by possible after shocks.
To explain these natural disasters, Julie Martinez with the U.S. Geological Survey is on the phone from Golden, Colorado. Julie, good morning.
JULIE MARTINEZ, U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY: Good morning.
HARRIS: Well, let me start with a basic question here. Talk us through this the nuts and bolts. What happened this morning? MARTINEZ: This morning we had a magnitude 8.9 earthquake in (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Sumatra, Indonesia. It was south-southeast of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Indonesia. It was in the ocean and it generated some tsunamis.
HARRIS: OK. It generated the tsunamis. Now explain to us what the tsunamis are and try to help us with a visual of this. These are, am I understand this correctly, huge waves that work under the sea along the floor of the sea?
MARTINEZ: That's correct. They do -- they are under water and once they hit the coast that's when you would see the sea level rise.
HARRIS: OK. From your understanding where does this earthquake, 8.9, where does it rank in terms of all time biggest earthquakes?
MARTINEZ: It's actually the fifth largest earthquake since 1900. And it is the largest earthquake since the Prince William Sound earthquake in Alaska of 1964.
HARRIS: And Julie what happens her? Explain to us what causes an earthquake. I think we all sort of understand that there are big plates that end up moving and shifting and -- but I'll have you give us a better explanation than that.
MARTINEZ: No, that's actually a good explanation. It's a collision of the plates. In this case it was the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). The collision of the Australian and Indonesia plates (ph), Burma plates (ph). And it -- this one actually, due to the size, it actually ruptured about 1,000 kilometers of the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) fault.
HARRIS: Julie, any way to predict if we will see -- I now we'll see aftershocks, but how big some of those after chocks might be. I think there was one report of a 7.3 aftershock.
MARTINEZ: Yes. That's actually true. That's the largest after shock that we have located so far, that was a 7.3. The aftershocks will probably continue for days, weeks, months, maybe even years.
HARRIS: Will we get more of these tsunamis attached to these aftershocks?
MARTINEZ: It depends upon the size of the aftershocks. If the aftershock is large enough it can also generate another Tsunamis.
HARRIS: Julie, I'm doing a little fishing here with you. Tell me what it is you're most curious to know what you're looking out for -- the kind of information you're looking to receive from the analysis of this earthquake?
MARTINEZ: Most -- as far as research?
HARRIS: Yes. Scientifically what kind of information are you curious to know about? I mean each of these events is new and singular unto itself. What are you looking for? MARTINEZ: It's -- after everything dies down it's very interesting to see the rupture and how it has affected various parts of the faults.
HARRIS: OK Julie. I was doing a little fishing there. Appreciate your going along with me. I appreciate it.
Julie Martinez with the U.S. Geological Survey. Julie, thanks for getting up very early in the morning out there in Golden, Colorado.
MARTINEZ: Thank you.
HARRIS: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Now the tsunamis from this earthquake killed hundreds in Thailand. We're still looking for an official number there, but to get the latest we want to go to Aneesh Raman in Phuket, Thailand.
Aneesh, what do you know right now?
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Those numbers still vary depending on who you talk to as officials just begin to get into these devastated areas. What we have now is a death toll that is creeping towards 300 steadily.
In terms of a breakdown, at least 200 are presumed dead on the small island of Pepei (ph). Now this falls between the mainland (UNINTELLIGIBLE) part of Thailand and the large Island of Phuket. We're also being told it's an estimated 150, I'm sorry, excuse me over 300. Then 150 others that have died between Phuket and the mainland.
Now the forefront of this rescue effort is where we have just arrived, the island of Phuket. It would have been the hardest hit. It was the closest to the epicenter of this earthquake. It is one of the regions most visited tourist destinations especially, we should note, by western tourist. And this is the peak of that season.
Tourism officials are telling us that the entire western coast of that island has suffered severe damage when around 10 a.m. local two tidal waves, eye witnesses suggesting that they were upwards of 30 feet high, came within moments of each other devouring that coastline.
Giving the morning time people would have been out swimming, they would have been on the beach and in a matter of seconds they would have been under water. Throughout the day other waves have come and fears linger here, as we've heard from other people before that more could be on the way. With aftershocks it's just not known.
Now tourists here just describe an utterly eerie transition within a matter of seconds from what was pristine tranquility. They were all on a holiday vacation to chaos and devastation. As you mentioned that death of 200 that is presumed on the island of Pepei.
It's a smaller less developed island and because of that less development there wasn't as many structures really blocking these waves. So they had much more significant devastation.
On the mainland coast areas of Khravi (ph) and Tungnai (ph) we're hearing that the waves were as high as 10 to 15 feet. There we know of a death toll of at least 48. Some 200 small boats are missing. So it's likely that number will increase.
The Thai government saying without doubt this is unprecedented catastrophe for the country. It's something they have never dealt with before. A massive relief and rescue operation is underway. The navy and other military are involved.
But back to where we are Phuket, relatives of tourists who are undoubtedly worldwide are desperately, I would think, trying to get in touch with the people here. And those who were lucky enough to have survived are just at a complete lost at what comes next, how to reconnect, how to deal with the incredibly tragic holiday they have just endured.
NGUYEN: Which is actually understandable considering all the death and devastation that they've seen so far today.
Aneesh Raman we appreciate that information from Phuket, Thailand. We'll be checking back with you as well this morning.
HARRIS: The biggest natural disaster in 40 years has taken thousands of lives and the toll is rising. Tidal waves triggered by a monster earthquake struck five Southeast Asia countries. CNN's Satinder Bindra is on the phone live from the capital of Sri Lanka, Colombo, this morning.
Satinder?
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, the death toll here is already about 1,700 and officials are fearing that this death toll will continue to rise over the next two hours and then early on tomorrow morning.
Sri Lanka has already declared a state of national emergency and is appealing to the international community for help.
Right now Tony I'm just about 25 kilometers south of the capital city of Colombo and all along the coastline and as far as my eye can see both to my left and to my right all along this coastline hundreds and hundreds of homes have been smashed. They've been smashed like literally pieces of toothpicks. .
Right in front of me there is a fiber glass boat. It smashed right into two. The remnants of peoples homes are out on the Coastal Highway here. In front of me a broken transistor radio. Just to my right a broken wall clock and the belongings of hundreds and hundreds of people are strewn right here on the street.
And this isn't even the worst affected part of this country. In the eastern part of Sri Lanka, Tony, it's estimated more than 1300 people have been killed. All in all, about a million people have been displaced and several western tourists, thousands of them who have come to Sri Lanka for a fun-filled holiday are now being evacuated from their hotels.
They're all being brought to the capital city of Colombo. But it's getting quite tight to find accommodation tonight.
Tony, back to you.
HARRIS: Satinder, that's a wonderful report. It puts us right there on the scene. We appreciate it. Thank you very much.
NGUYEN: And keep up with all the developments, possible aftershocks, more tidal waves and the flooding. All you have to do is go online at cnn.com for updates.
HARRIS: Thousands of air travelers are hoping for the best today. Maybe they'll finally get on those long delayed flights. And airline delays are having a domino affect on others. CNN's Gary Nuremberg is live at Reagan National Airport in Washington.
Good morning, Gary.
GARY NUREMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Well if you are where you want to be this morning you're doing better than tens of thousands of airline passengers, who are not where they want to be, who didn't make it where they wanted to be for Christmas and who spent the night at airports nationwide trying to get to where they want to be.
The biggest problem comes from the Delta subsidiary Comair, which suffered computer problems Friday night and canceled all of its 1160 flights yesterday stranding about 30,000 passengers. Comair then canceled all of its 1160 flights today adding another 30,000 passengers to the mix. Although the Associated Press recently reported that Comair plans to resume a limited schedule later today.
Comair's problems began with those storms late in the week. It caused its computers to lose track of flight crews because of the limited cancellations at the end of the week. The computers couldn't keep up and crashed causing Comair to make those cancellations.
The company said it will do its best to make good.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON BOHNHORST, COMAIR SPOKESMAN: Everyone who will be traveling that had travel plans between the 25th actually going back to the 22nd all the way through January 1st we're offering refunds to. I'm sorry, giving them the ability to rebook without any fees without any charges associated with that.
If you were not able to complete your flights we're offering you refunds. And for those who have been impacted mid-travel we're handling that on a case by case basis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NUREMBERG: In addition to Comair, U.S. Air is having problems this weekend having separated thousands of passengers from their baggage, as many flight attendants and baggage handlers phoned in sick for the weekend causing delays. Twenty nine flights in the U.S. Air schedule have been canceled for today.
Philadelphia was particularly hard hit. U.S. Air filled five plans with luggage only, sent them to a sorting facility in North Carolina so that they could get those bags to the passengers who needed them for Christmas presents. That did not happen and those baggage continue today.
We will keep on top of this as the day develop. And Tony, bring you update throughout the morning.
HARRIS: Gary, we've got to get those bags to the people and the people home. We appreciate it. Gary Nuremberg live at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
NGUYEN: Well no doubt it, it has been a very long time since one U.S. city looked like this. Find out where this not so normal snow fall happened in your weather forecast. That is straight ahead.
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NGUYEN: For the first time in 50 years folks in Louisiana had a white Christmas. You are looking at the streets of New Orleans. It wasn't all merry though. Ice caused long stretches of Interstate 10 to shut down. Travelers will be glad to hear that today's temperatures in that area will get to about 50 degrees, which should take care of any lingering ice.
But you know, weather has been a problem all weekend long especially as people try to head home for the holidays. And now about this time they're ready to get back to their house.
HARRIS: Yes. In some areas, Brad, it's actually staring to improve a little bit. And later in the week if you look ahead a little bit it actually starts to warm up in some spots.
NGUYEN: Time for New Years?
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Let's check the top stories we're following this Sunday morning. Deaths in the thousands after a powerful earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The quake triggered tidal waves. It swept away people in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich votes presumably for himself in Ukraine's presidential election runoff. Yanukovich is the establishment candidate and the favorite in the Russian speaking eastern provinces of Ukraine. Viktor Yushchenko is the opposition candidate, the western leaning darlings of the crowds that have been camping in the streets of Kiev during the campaign. His face was disfigured allegedly by dioxin poisoning. Here in the U.S. thousands of people spent Christmas day standing around in airport terminals. Comair canceled 1100 due to a computer glitch. U.S. Airways looks for lost luggage and canceled nearly 300 flights.
NGUYEN: Not happy campers there. Well, you know Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, but chances are good the name Chuck Leavell doesn't automatically conjure up the Rolling Stones for you. But as CNN's Rhonda Grayson reports he's as much a part of the rock-n-roll legend as those guys out front.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RHONDA GRAYSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You may not think of him when you think of Mick and the boys, but Chuck Leavell is the master of the keyboards behind the Rolling Stones.
Chuck has had quite a musical career playing piano with other rock legends such as the Allman Brothers, George Harrison and Eric Clapton.
After seeing Ray Charles perform he says he knew what he wanted to do with his life.
CHUCK LEAVELL, ROLLING STONES KEYBOARDIST: The epiphany of my life when I was about 13 years old was going to a Ray Charles concert and seeing Ray in person, listening to the band. It was so moving, it was so incredible. It was just chilling. It was fantastic.
I did get to play with Ray once and that was definitely a dream come true.
GRAYSON: His wife of 31 years Rose Lane remembers the phone call that would change their lives.
ROSE LANE, WIFE: He was going to sell the piano and he was going to become a farmer and I thought that was, oh my God no. You're not going to become a farmer and by the way, the Rolling Stones called today and I think you ought to trace that call and...
LEAVELL: I thought she was, you know, pulling my leg.
LANE: You're depressed so here's a bit -- I'll throw you a bone (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
GRAYSON: Chuck has toured with the Rolling Stones for the past 22 years.
LEAVELL: The heart and soul of rock-n-roll is Keith Richards, no doubt about it. You look up rock-n-roll in the dictionary there's a picture of Keith Richards there. He's so passionate with every stroke of the guitar.
GRAYSON (on-camera): When he's not touring with the Rolling Stones, Chuck and his wife call 2200 rolling acres of pine trees their home. GRAYSON: Their home and sanctuary, The Charlane (ph) plantation includes a recording studio and it's where he got the inspiration to write his new book, "Between A Rock and a Home Place," balancing his love of music and conservation.
LEAVELL: I love playing music. I love working with all these different artists. I do feel like the luckiest guy in the world to have played with all of these folks and hey, it's not over yet. My rock -n-roll shoes are still in there waiting for the next tour.
GRAYSON: Rhonda Grayson, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And as Leavell says it's not over yet. In fact, he is playing live right here on CNN in our next hour. So, stayed tuned for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: On this post Christmas Sunday morning we're taking a deeper look into the Christian community. It is a community plagued by deep and long running divisions. Christian leaders are calling for unity, but there are fears that internal conflicts could tear the church apart.
Can something be dome to heal these religious riffs or are the various Christian factions way too divided. We're joined now by the Reverend Robert Franklin from the Cantler (ph) School of Theology at Emory University here in Atlanta.
Reverend Franklin good to see you.
REVEREND ROBERT FRANKLIN, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Thank you, Tony.
HARRIS: And Merry Christmas to you.
FRANKLIN: Yes. Thank you.
HARRIS: Give me a sense -- you know on some level we need to understand the problems before we can begin to fix them. Give me a sense of what you believe are the most pressing concerns in the Christian community that need some time, some conversation, some dialogue.
FRANKLIN: Let me begin by saying that the good news is that the world and certainly our nation is a better place because of all the good works of charity and mercy and justice that the churches are engaged in.
That said, there's enormous division within the church. I think the two pressing issues that I find in sacred scripture that we tend to overlook in our church relations number one, how we treat the poor,. those who are on the margins of society.
And secondly the strangers, those who are not a part of our faith community. Those are enormous concerns to God and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) over look them.
HARRIS: What needs to e the outreach effort? How do you articulate that?
FRANKLIN: Leaders like Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, there have always been leaders who have stepped forth and tried to bride the differences. So I think leadership is called for at this time.
Secondly identifying common ground. What is it that we have in common and being able to bracket those things that divide us.
HARRIS: The numbers of factions within the Christian church, I don't know how many there are but they're just a number of different factions. And the Pope recently called for more of an ecumenical outreach.
FRANKLIN: Yes.
HARRIS: He wants closer relations between all of the factions, denominations in the church. How does that happen?
FRANKLIN: Well the holy father has done us a great service by calling us to unity, calling us to cooperation. We have this covenant that we are all one under God and before God and I think the church leaders lose sight of that. We allow politics to divide us. We allow our differing ethical perspectives on controversial issues to divide us.
But we are really called to affirm what it is we have in common. That is the covenant that binds us together.
FRANKLIN: Closer relations, just to pick a couple of faiths, Christians and Jews for example. The whole issue of Jesus. Is he a man? Is he this divine figure? Where do you stand on that and what is the dialogue that helps bridge an even closer relationship between Christians and Jews? You don't get Christianity after all without Judaism.
FRANKLIN: Christians always be -- recognize their indebtedness to Judaism and ought to bear a certainly humility about that. Never assert moral superiority. As a Christian I believe that Jesus is divine and human. That's party of a mystery that animates all of our faith traditions.
But we can again, find the common ground. We may not be able to sort out the theological differences. But in terms of practice, how we treat our neighbors, how we treat the poor, those who are incarcerated, those who are disabled that's the common ethical agenda.
I love the quote by Rabbi Halaal (ph) that says that the world is equally divided between good and evil and our next act will tip the scale.
HARRIS: That's a good thought. Reverend Franklin thank you. Moving forward that's a great message. Thank you.
FRANKLIN: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Some very interesting insight today.
Well we do have a lot more coming up. A life beyond human limitation. That straight ahead on "HOUSE CALL" with Doctor Sanjay Gupta.
I'm Betty Nguyen.
HARRIS: I'm Tony Harris. Top stories and "HOUSE CALL" next. We'll be back at the top of the hour.
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