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CNN Live At Daybreak

Tsunamis Kill 20,000 in Asia

Aired December 27, 2004 - 05:00   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.


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's coming again! Coming again!
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And it just seemed to keep coming. A massive earthquake, devastating tsunamis and a death toll growing by the hour. Straight ahead on DAYBREAK, the disaster in Southeast Asia.

Plus, a new political era for Ukrainians. The nation's opposition leaders say it has arrived, and he plans to take charge.

Also, the post-Christmas bargain bins are filling up, but retailers want you to dive in.

It is Monday, December 27. This is DAYBREAK.

And good morning to you. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello along with Chad Myers.

Now in the news:

Fifteen thousand and climbing. That's the death toll this morning in Southeast Asia, where the planet's strongest earthquake in 40 years triggered deadly tsunamis hundreds of miles away. We'll bring you more in just a few minutes.

And you are looking at the aftermath of a suicide car bombing in Baghdad. It happened just a few hours ago outside the offices of a top Shiite political party. At least six are dead.

Thousands of people are still stranded at airports this morning. A computer glitch forced Comair to scrap hundreds of flights over the holiday weekend. The airline hopes to be back on a full schedule by Wednesday.

To the forecast center and Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, it's snowing up there, Carol.

COSTELLO: It looks pretty, but it feels nasty.

MYERS: I hear we have pictures on up from Harlem, and then also somewhere over from Brooklyn. So yes, the snow is coming down. It's light at best, but it could also slow down - there you go. There are some shots there from on up the east side, I think. From Harlem, New York - there you go. From our affiliate WNYW. And it's going to be snowing for a lot of the day today, especially across Boston and also on up toward Down East Maine. The snow will, though, eventually - rather quickly, actually, move away from New York City.

Still, we will fill in here with some significant lake-effect snow. You'll see that lake-effect snow kind of popping here all along the highest elevations from Rochester down even into about Utica.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: And you're going to be along later to explain to us this - this - these tsunamis that occurred in Southeast Asia.

MYERS: Yes, those are - there's a big, big subduction zone there. It's called the big Ring of Fire out there, and this happens all the time. If you've ever been to Hawaii or even Alaska and you - even parts of the West Coast of the U.S., there are tsunami warning centers out there and all kinds of alarms that says you're not supposed to go places and if you hear the alarms, you're supposed to go higher and higher. Well, obviously, some of the poorer countries out here in the - parts of the Indonesia and Middlesia (ph) and all that don't have those kind of alarms...

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: We're going to start there this morning, Chad, with the first look at the enormity of the devastation in Asia following that deadly earthquake and all of those tsunamis over the weekend. As many as 20,000 people are dead. We just got that updated figure; 20,000 dead at least. The giant waves have also left hundreds of thousands of people homeless throughout the region.

The quake itself was a magnitude 9.0. That's the largest quake in the last 40 years, and the fourth strongest ever measured. Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka the hardest hit. The death toll in India alone stands at nearly 6,000.

Rescue and recovery crews are searching for hundreds of people still missing in the wake of those giant waves. Some aftershocks are being felt in the area, but so far there has been no new damage reported this morning.

CNN's Andrew Brown takes a look at the trail of devastation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was Sunday morning, 7:00 a.m. local time, that the most powerful quake in 40 years jolted northern Indonesia. Soon after, the first casualties were reported in Aceh province, where the quake demolished buildings and brought down phone lines.

But that was just the beginning.

The epicenter of the quake, underneath the ocean off Indonesia, triggered giant waves, or tsunamis, that surged across the Adonand (ph) Sea and Indian Ocean, literally drowning coastal communities, including popular resorts. The Malaysian island Panang, including the upscale Batu Ferengi tourist area, was inundated. The Thai holiday island of Phuket was devastated by waves up to 30 feet, or 10 meters high.

In the main tourist center, Patong, the streets were pounded by water and debris. Witnesses say the waves were so powerful they tossed one car into a hotel lobby. Other reports say swimmers were sucked into the ocean as the tsunami approached. All were dragged by waves across razor-sharp coral.

Thousands of people, many of them in Phuket to enjoy the Christmas holidays, fled to higher ground.

Other Thai resorts, including the scenic Pi Pi Island, were also hit, with bungalows swept away.

Meantime, tremendous waves surged across the Indian Ocean, traveling, by some estimates, at hundreds of kilometers per hour, then smashed into the Maldives, Sri Lanka and parts of southern India.

In India, many homes in Madras were submerged. And in Andhra Pradesh, hundreds of fishermen were reported missing.

Low-lying parts of Sri Lanka were defenseless against the tsunami that ravaged the country's coast, with a northeastern area especially hard hit.

What should have been a quiet Sunday in Asia turned into a day of devastation in the region, with thousands of people dead or missing.

Andrew Brown, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Tourists fleeing from rising walls of water. That was the scene in Thailand, where the quake triggered tsunamis, wrecked crowded resort areas.

Security expert Will Gedes was vacationing in Thailand when it happened. He describes the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL GEDES, SECURITY EXPERT: Having stood in the water, and literally - within two seconds, from ankle height it came to shoulder height. You usually imagine, you know, tidal waves are going to -- much like you see in the movies, a big crescent wave. Waves that hit Phuket -- and certainly some of the reports I've had from other resorts - they all came in very hard and fast. It was a bit like watching a bath run to the top.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Thai officials report hundreds of people dead and hundred others still missing this morning. Monster waves 40 feet high swallowed coastal areas of Sri Lanka west of the earthquake's epicenter. More than 4,500 people died in the island nation and thousands more are missing.

CNN correspondent Satinder Bindra filed this report from the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some 3,000 people across Sri Lanka are still missing. Their family members are doing everything possible to try to locate them.

This morning, we've seen hundreds of people search through rubble with their bare hands trying to find their loved ones. But all that they've managed to find are dead bodies.

Also people here are very scared that they could be strong by more killer waves. There is a fear in the city and all along the coast of Sri Lanka - large communities have been destroyed. Homes have been just wrecked. Roofs have been torn off.

And right now, Sri Lanka has launched a massive relief effort. It's appealed to the international community to send food, water and medical supplies. The most urgent need is safe drinking water, because the seawater has contaminated a large amount of the local drinking water here.

The United States is trying to send in helicopters, and India has also promised six to eight helicopters to help with the relief effort.

Satinder Bindra, CNN, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Several of those killed in Sri Lanka were tourists. One who survived is Nate Berkus. He's an American interior designer who was a frequent contributor to the Oprah Winfrey show.

Berkus spoke by phone to CNN from Sri Lanka.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATE BERKUS, SURVIVOR: We were completely devastated yesterday morning around 9 in the morning. We desperately, desperately need help from the government here. We're without water; were without food and many of us are injured. There are women and children who are - there's a pregnant woman with broken ribs. We've - the - the Sri Lankan army seems to only have very few helicopters here that have touched down and taken away very few of the injured people. We've all been sleeping in a field throughout the night, and right now I believe it's about 4 in the morning here. I'm with about a group of 50 tourists as well as many locals. And it's just been utter devastation. Bodies everywhere. And just really, absolutely horrible, horrible devastation. There was absolutely no warning. I was asleep in a beachfront cottage. I heard a loud noise. All of a sudden, the roof was ripped off of the cottage, and my friend and I were taken out to sea - just taken in currents that were so strong with debris and cars and animals and people (UNINTELLIGIBLE) by. We were able to hang on to a telephone pole with a mattress wedged between us for literally 30 seconds. There was a calm in the storm, and then another wave hit. Both of us were torn from the - from the phone pole. I finally climbed down to a roof of a home -- because the water pushed me behind the home - and sat out the rest of the waves on top of this structure, which luckily held. But many people have died. There are - a lot of us are injured here. I'm very scraped up, but luckily I'm OK. And I'm still missing my friend.

Really, against that kind of force of nature, there was nothing any of us could do. There were definitely people helping one another in the - in the aftermath, helping to reunite families and helping to understand exactly what was going on. But the bottom line is, we desperately need help here and we need it first thing, as soon as the sun comes up here, which is in a couple of hours. I understand the American government has something under way. I hope that that's true, because we are really very desperate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And the sun has come up since we spoke to Nate Berkus. In fact, we have an updated casualty toll from Sri Lanka: 10,000 dead in Sri Lanka alone. And we presume hundreds more missing.

That, of course, Nate Berkus you just heard. He's an American interior designer and tsunami survivor in Sri Lanka.

President Bush says the United States is lending a hand in the wake of the disaster. The State Department says at least three Americans are among the thousands of people killed. A statement from the White House says relief is already flowing to Southeast Asia and more is on the way. The White House says the United State stands ready to offer all appropriate assistance to those nations most affected, including Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, as well as other countries impacted.

The big baggage snafu. That's just one of the Christmas weekend travel woes for us, which seems just like nothing compared to what's happening in Asia. But if you are back home this morning, congratulations, because a lot of other travelers may not be there yet. Gay Neurenberg (ph) updates the holiday-travel problems live in seven minutes.

A new video may show militants planning the deadly attack last week in Mosul. We'll meet with David Clinch in the War Room in 26 minutes.

And the opposition candidate claims victory in the disputed presidential election in Ukraine. Jill Dougherty has details for you. She'll be live from Kiev in 28 minutes.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now to our market watch. Futures in positive territory right now. The Dow is up 14; the Nasdaq up three and a half points; the S&P 500 up 2 heading into the last Monday of trading for 2004.

The international markets also mixed. Tokyo's Nikkei down 3 points; the London FTSE up 10; and the Paris CAC down almost 4.

Your news, money, weather and sports; it is 5:15 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning:

The death toll in Asia from disastrous tsunamis and floods stands at more than 20,000 this morning. Rescue and recovery crews are scouring affected areas in the hope of finding hundreds who are still missing.

A Delta flight from Colombia to Atlanta was diverted to a naval air station in Florida when a passenger's name appeared on a no-fly list. But immigration officials say he was flagged because another person on the no-fly list had stolen his identity.

In money news, the tsunami disaster in Asia fueled a slip in the yen to its lowest point against the euro in 18 months. Uncertainty over the scale of the disaster also led to drops in the major Asian stock markets.

In culture, it was a good weekend to beat (ph) the Fockers. The sequel to "Meet the Parents" set a Christmas Day record at the box office with $19 million. The Fockers took in almost $45 million for the holiday weekend. Somehow, you just shouldn't be allowed to say that on TV in the morning.

In sports, former NFL great Reggie White died in his sleep. He was only 43 years old. The cause of death isn't known yet, but an autopsy is planned. White, who was also an ordained minister, played 15 years in the NFL with Philadelphia, Green Bay and Carolina. And boy was he a great player.

To the forecast center and Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: I have some facts and figures on earthquakes through the years, but I want you to stick around to explain to us exactly what happened in Asia, just because it's just so strange.

So let me - let me relay these facts to our viewers.

First, as we've reported, the south Asia earthquake is the fourth strongest on record. Here's a look at the other big quakes:

The world's strongest earthquake ever recorded measured 9.5. That was in Chile back in 1960. That was followed four years later by a 9.2 magnitude quake in Prince William Sound, Alaska, in 1964. In 1957, a 9.1 quake jolted Andrian (ph) - Andrian Islands, Alaska - so that's also in Alaska. And there's the weekend quake in Indonesia, which measured 9.0.

And, of course, this hit in the Indian Ocean, Chad, right near Indonesia.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Tell us what happened after that.

MYERS: Well, Carol, think about this whole thing as almost like trying to throw - if you were going to throw a large boulder into an ocean or into a lake. If you throw a boulder into the lake, there are going to be ripples from that boulder that you throw in.

Well, we didn't throw a boulder in the top. We threw a boulder in the bottom. And so as you - as that whole ground there shakes under there, there are ripples of water, just like the ripples where you'd throw a stone in the lake. Those ripples are going along and away from the center of the earthquake, which is that star - that star right there. Not that far, obviously, from Sumatra. So they picked up that shaking in Sumatra as well.

I'm going to go ahead and zoom in on this map so you can see. Here's Thailand and Phuket and the entire area - that splashing of the water, just continue to go "wham!" away from this star.

Now, we talk about this thing having far-reaching effects because they're not only the 9.0 here, but a 7.4 there and 7.2 there. There were so many other earthquakes in this entire what we call "the island arc." You get these - these mountains forming - like the Rocky Mountains - but they're actually - they're volcanoes as well. Volcanoes here and even Krakatoa was right there. Krakatoa back in 1883, something like that, caused huge, huge devastation; 30,000 people died from tsunamis from Krakatoa as it caused a little bit of shaking, especially down under the sea area. And that's - that shaking causes the water to push away. Can move about 500 miles an hour under the ocean, but as it gets closer to land it slows down to 20 or 30 mph, and then you just see this big, what looks like a tidal wave, but it has nothing at all to do with tides. It has everything to do with that shaking, that pushing of the land and of the water away from that surface, that spot down there, underneath the water, Carol.

COSTELLO: And, you know, so many of these people, Chad, had absolutely no warning. It was a beautiful, sunny day. The skies were blue. And all of a sudden, that huge wave - and we're talking about 90-foot waves - came up on shore and literally washed people, homes, cars, trees away.

MYERS: Well, you know, it has nothing to do with the weather. I know you're talking to the weather guy about this, but an earthquake has nothing at all to do with the weather. It has to do with plate tectonics. We have plates - one plate that's moving this wave, and another plate that's actually moving this way. As the plates came together, they shifted and they shook. The same type of plates that we have off the west coast of the United States. The same plates - the same subduction type zone that we have to the west of California, making all that ugly earthquake activity out there sometimes. Obviously, the one that happened during the World Series - another form of an earthquake there.

Here's Sumatra. The earthquake was here, under the water. And then that water pushed away. And as that water pushed away, the ripples under the water hit the land, all the way from Sri Lanka right up through India. And now we are having indications now that there were tsunamis also south of here. The waves kept going, and kept going to the west here, and in fact hit the west coast - hit the east coast of Africa, down there from, let's say, south of - oh, from Senegal all the way down even into South Africa itself. So we're going to have to watch out for that...

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: And some experts say too there could be aftershocks. So it may not be over yet. We'll get to that later though.

MYERS: There was a 7.2 aftershock, which is a significant earthquake in itself. So, yes.

COSTELLO: And maybe more to come.

MYERS: Sure.

COSTELLO: Chad, thank you.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Wasn't a very merry Christmas for many U.S. travelers. Coming up next, how a major computer-system failure has created a perfect storm of travel tie-ups.

You're watching DAYBREAK for a Monday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Did you have a horrible time at the airport this weekend? I know I did.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Troubles with two airlines left thousands of passengers stranded or separated. And at this time, it had little or nothing to do with the weather. Nothing at all.

CNN's Gary Neurenberg has more details for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY NEURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a Christmas weekend where thousands of holiday dreams didn't come true.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got in line and waited for four hours. So obviously, missed our flight.

NEURENBERG: Sue and Joe King (ph) wanted to take 20-month-old Hailey (ph) to Disney World.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're on stand-by now for a 3 p.m. flight.

NEURENBERG (on camera): And if that doesn't work?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a 7 p.m. that we're on stand-by for.

NEURENBERG: And if that doesn't work?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then the next morning, we might be on stand-by for that.

NEURENBERG: So how happy are you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not very happy.

NEURENBERG (voice-over): The Kings were not alone. When Delta subsidiary Comair canceled weekend flights because of computer problems, thousands had to scramble. The airline generally carries 30,000 passengers a day. By Sunday afternoon, it had begun to resume a limited schedule.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to continue to grow that improvement with the hopes of being at 100 percent back to normal by midweek.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, Philadelphia's a mess. Completely sold out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Got to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Got to go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on.

NEURENBERG: US Airways says it had several hundred flight attendants and baggage handlers phone in sick, separating an estimated 10,000 passengers from their luggage.

(on camera): By Sunday evening, US Airways claimed to have made great progress in reuniting passengers with their lost luggage. But clearly, it still had a long way to go.

(voice-over): And little Hailey King still has a long way to go to make it to Disney World. Her family failed to make it on two stand-by flights and called it quits.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going home. No Disney World. Next year.

Gary Neurenberg, for CNN, at Reagan National Airport.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And I'm telling you, people are still at the airport this morning. In fact - and I just want to share my nightmare with you, just to vent a little bit, because you know I've had absolutely no sleep because of that.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: But my flight was to take off from Detroit at 5:30. It did not take off until almost 10:00 p.m. Didn't get back at Newark until - oh, I would say, midnight. And then the taxi lines were so long because of the backup coming into the airport, you stood in line for a half hour. So I didn't get home until - what? - 1:30 a.m., Chad.

Are you feeling sorry for me, Chad?

MYERS: Oh no, not really, Carol. Because I have 13 people in my house.

COSTELLO: (LAUGHTER)

Oh, do you really?

MYERS: All my in-laws are in town, yes. Actually, I did get a lot - I got a lot of sleep last night, so no problem.

COSTELLO: Well, that's good. And they probably drove, so they probably were in a much better mood than I am this morning.

MYERS: Actually, they flew on Christmas Day.

COSTELLO: Oh, you know, that's smart actually.

MYERS: Yes, but - except for that Comair disaster, where all those people tried to get out on Christmas Day and they couldn't go anywhere because the computer glitched.

COSTELLO: Right, and that backed up people - that left 30,000 people stranded throughout the country. That means they had to get them all on another plane, which led to the problems yesterday. And then those baggage handlers called off sick in Philadelphia. And that was - what? - 300 cancellations on top of the 29 flights canceled on Christmas Day?

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: This was just ugly.

MYERS: I know.

COSTELLO: That leads us to today's e-mail question. MYERS: Oh, I see where you were going with this.

COSTELLO: I know, because I want to share in your pain. I want you to vent. Please! What was your holiday travel experience? Do tell. Send your stories to DAYBREAK@cnn.com. That's DAYBREAK@CNN.com

And of course, we'll be glad to read some on the air. And we're going to discuss this matter with our travel expert in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

MYERS: Because now people still have to get home.

COSTELLO: Exactly. Today's going to be another nightmare.

Here's what's all new, by the way, in the next half hour of DAYBREAK:

The people have spoken. Ukrainians take to the streets, this time in celebration. We'll tell you who won in a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: He's known for transforming living spaces from drab to fab on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." But prior to starring on the Emmy-winning makeover show, Thom Filicia founded his interior design firm in 1998, and was named one of "House Beautiful"'s Top 100 American designers. This year, his company was selected to design the U.S. pavilion at the 2005 World's Fair.

THOM FILICIA, FOUNDER & CEO, THOM FILICIA INC.: People that are successful are generally always questioning what it is they're doing, how it could be done better, and looking to the future.

I would tell students today, graduating from interior design, really focus on the business. Understand design, absolutely. Know your aesthetic. Develop your own point of view and have a philosophy. And also be very open to how you're going to acclimate to the new world of interior design and how it's changing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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 27, 2004 - 05:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's coming again! Coming again!
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And it just seemed to keep coming. A massive earthquake, devastating tsunamis and a death toll growing by the hour. Straight ahead on DAYBREAK, the disaster in Southeast Asia.

Plus, a new political era for Ukrainians. The nation's opposition leaders say it has arrived, and he plans to take charge.

Also, the post-Christmas bargain bins are filling up, but retailers want you to dive in.

It is Monday, December 27. This is DAYBREAK.

And good morning to you. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello along with Chad Myers.

Now in the news:

Fifteen thousand and climbing. That's the death toll this morning in Southeast Asia, where the planet's strongest earthquake in 40 years triggered deadly tsunamis hundreds of miles away. We'll bring you more in just a few minutes.

And you are looking at the aftermath of a suicide car bombing in Baghdad. It happened just a few hours ago outside the offices of a top Shiite political party. At least six are dead.

Thousands of people are still stranded at airports this morning. A computer glitch forced Comair to scrap hundreds of flights over the holiday weekend. The airline hopes to be back on a full schedule by Wednesday.

To the forecast center and Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, it's snowing up there, Carol.

COSTELLO: It looks pretty, but it feels nasty.

MYERS: I hear we have pictures on up from Harlem, and then also somewhere over from Brooklyn. So yes, the snow is coming down. It's light at best, but it could also slow down - there you go. There are some shots there from on up the east side, I think. From Harlem, New York - there you go. From our affiliate WNYW. And it's going to be snowing for a lot of the day today, especially across Boston and also on up toward Down East Maine. The snow will, though, eventually - rather quickly, actually, move away from New York City.

Still, we will fill in here with some significant lake-effect snow. You'll see that lake-effect snow kind of popping here all along the highest elevations from Rochester down even into about Utica.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: And you're going to be along later to explain to us this - this - these tsunamis that occurred in Southeast Asia.

MYERS: Yes, those are - there's a big, big subduction zone there. It's called the big Ring of Fire out there, and this happens all the time. If you've ever been to Hawaii or even Alaska and you - even parts of the West Coast of the U.S., there are tsunami warning centers out there and all kinds of alarms that says you're not supposed to go places and if you hear the alarms, you're supposed to go higher and higher. Well, obviously, some of the poorer countries out here in the - parts of the Indonesia and Middlesia (ph) and all that don't have those kind of alarms...

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: We're going to start there this morning, Chad, with the first look at the enormity of the devastation in Asia following that deadly earthquake and all of those tsunamis over the weekend. As many as 20,000 people are dead. We just got that updated figure; 20,000 dead at least. The giant waves have also left hundreds of thousands of people homeless throughout the region.

The quake itself was a magnitude 9.0. That's the largest quake in the last 40 years, and the fourth strongest ever measured. Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka the hardest hit. The death toll in India alone stands at nearly 6,000.

Rescue and recovery crews are searching for hundreds of people still missing in the wake of those giant waves. Some aftershocks are being felt in the area, but so far there has been no new damage reported this morning.

CNN's Andrew Brown takes a look at the trail of devastation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was Sunday morning, 7:00 a.m. local time, that the most powerful quake in 40 years jolted northern Indonesia. Soon after, the first casualties were reported in Aceh province, where the quake demolished buildings and brought down phone lines.

But that was just the beginning.

The epicenter of the quake, underneath the ocean off Indonesia, triggered giant waves, or tsunamis, that surged across the Adonand (ph) Sea and Indian Ocean, literally drowning coastal communities, including popular resorts. The Malaysian island Panang, including the upscale Batu Ferengi tourist area, was inundated. The Thai holiday island of Phuket was devastated by waves up to 30 feet, or 10 meters high.

In the main tourist center, Patong, the streets were pounded by water and debris. Witnesses say the waves were so powerful they tossed one car into a hotel lobby. Other reports say swimmers were sucked into the ocean as the tsunami approached. All were dragged by waves across razor-sharp coral.

Thousands of people, many of them in Phuket to enjoy the Christmas holidays, fled to higher ground.

Other Thai resorts, including the scenic Pi Pi Island, were also hit, with bungalows swept away.

Meantime, tremendous waves surged across the Indian Ocean, traveling, by some estimates, at hundreds of kilometers per hour, then smashed into the Maldives, Sri Lanka and parts of southern India.

In India, many homes in Madras were submerged. And in Andhra Pradesh, hundreds of fishermen were reported missing.

Low-lying parts of Sri Lanka were defenseless against the tsunami that ravaged the country's coast, with a northeastern area especially hard hit.

What should have been a quiet Sunday in Asia turned into a day of devastation in the region, with thousands of people dead or missing.

Andrew Brown, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Tourists fleeing from rising walls of water. That was the scene in Thailand, where the quake triggered tsunamis, wrecked crowded resort areas.

Security expert Will Gedes was vacationing in Thailand when it happened. He describes the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL GEDES, SECURITY EXPERT: Having stood in the water, and literally - within two seconds, from ankle height it came to shoulder height. You usually imagine, you know, tidal waves are going to -- much like you see in the movies, a big crescent wave. Waves that hit Phuket -- and certainly some of the reports I've had from other resorts - they all came in very hard and fast. It was a bit like watching a bath run to the top.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Thai officials report hundreds of people dead and hundred others still missing this morning. Monster waves 40 feet high swallowed coastal areas of Sri Lanka west of the earthquake's epicenter. More than 4,500 people died in the island nation and thousands more are missing.

CNN correspondent Satinder Bindra filed this report from the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some 3,000 people across Sri Lanka are still missing. Their family members are doing everything possible to try to locate them.

This morning, we've seen hundreds of people search through rubble with their bare hands trying to find their loved ones. But all that they've managed to find are dead bodies.

Also people here are very scared that they could be strong by more killer waves. There is a fear in the city and all along the coast of Sri Lanka - large communities have been destroyed. Homes have been just wrecked. Roofs have been torn off.

And right now, Sri Lanka has launched a massive relief effort. It's appealed to the international community to send food, water and medical supplies. The most urgent need is safe drinking water, because the seawater has contaminated a large amount of the local drinking water here.

The United States is trying to send in helicopters, and India has also promised six to eight helicopters to help with the relief effort.

Satinder Bindra, CNN, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Several of those killed in Sri Lanka were tourists. One who survived is Nate Berkus. He's an American interior designer who was a frequent contributor to the Oprah Winfrey show.

Berkus spoke by phone to CNN from Sri Lanka.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATE BERKUS, SURVIVOR: We were completely devastated yesterday morning around 9 in the morning. We desperately, desperately need help from the government here. We're without water; were without food and many of us are injured. There are women and children who are - there's a pregnant woman with broken ribs. We've - the - the Sri Lankan army seems to only have very few helicopters here that have touched down and taken away very few of the injured people. We've all been sleeping in a field throughout the night, and right now I believe it's about 4 in the morning here. I'm with about a group of 50 tourists as well as many locals. And it's just been utter devastation. Bodies everywhere. And just really, absolutely horrible, horrible devastation. There was absolutely no warning. I was asleep in a beachfront cottage. I heard a loud noise. All of a sudden, the roof was ripped off of the cottage, and my friend and I were taken out to sea - just taken in currents that were so strong with debris and cars and animals and people (UNINTELLIGIBLE) by. We were able to hang on to a telephone pole with a mattress wedged between us for literally 30 seconds. There was a calm in the storm, and then another wave hit. Both of us were torn from the - from the phone pole. I finally climbed down to a roof of a home -- because the water pushed me behind the home - and sat out the rest of the waves on top of this structure, which luckily held. But many people have died. There are - a lot of us are injured here. I'm very scraped up, but luckily I'm OK. And I'm still missing my friend.

Really, against that kind of force of nature, there was nothing any of us could do. There were definitely people helping one another in the - in the aftermath, helping to reunite families and helping to understand exactly what was going on. But the bottom line is, we desperately need help here and we need it first thing, as soon as the sun comes up here, which is in a couple of hours. I understand the American government has something under way. I hope that that's true, because we are really very desperate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And the sun has come up since we spoke to Nate Berkus. In fact, we have an updated casualty toll from Sri Lanka: 10,000 dead in Sri Lanka alone. And we presume hundreds more missing.

That, of course, Nate Berkus you just heard. He's an American interior designer and tsunami survivor in Sri Lanka.

President Bush says the United States is lending a hand in the wake of the disaster. The State Department says at least three Americans are among the thousands of people killed. A statement from the White House says relief is already flowing to Southeast Asia and more is on the way. The White House says the United State stands ready to offer all appropriate assistance to those nations most affected, including Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, as well as other countries impacted.

The big baggage snafu. That's just one of the Christmas weekend travel woes for us, which seems just like nothing compared to what's happening in Asia. But if you are back home this morning, congratulations, because a lot of other travelers may not be there yet. Gay Neurenberg (ph) updates the holiday-travel problems live in seven minutes.

A new video may show militants planning the deadly attack last week in Mosul. We'll meet with David Clinch in the War Room in 26 minutes.

And the opposition candidate claims victory in the disputed presidential election in Ukraine. Jill Dougherty has details for you. She'll be live from Kiev in 28 minutes.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now to our market watch. Futures in positive territory right now. The Dow is up 14; the Nasdaq up three and a half points; the S&P 500 up 2 heading into the last Monday of trading for 2004.

The international markets also mixed. Tokyo's Nikkei down 3 points; the London FTSE up 10; and the Paris CAC down almost 4.

Your news, money, weather and sports; it is 5:15 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning:

The death toll in Asia from disastrous tsunamis and floods stands at more than 20,000 this morning. Rescue and recovery crews are scouring affected areas in the hope of finding hundreds who are still missing.

A Delta flight from Colombia to Atlanta was diverted to a naval air station in Florida when a passenger's name appeared on a no-fly list. But immigration officials say he was flagged because another person on the no-fly list had stolen his identity.

In money news, the tsunami disaster in Asia fueled a slip in the yen to its lowest point against the euro in 18 months. Uncertainty over the scale of the disaster also led to drops in the major Asian stock markets.

In culture, it was a good weekend to beat (ph) the Fockers. The sequel to "Meet the Parents" set a Christmas Day record at the box office with $19 million. The Fockers took in almost $45 million for the holiday weekend. Somehow, you just shouldn't be allowed to say that on TV in the morning.

In sports, former NFL great Reggie White died in his sleep. He was only 43 years old. The cause of death isn't known yet, but an autopsy is planned. White, who was also an ordained minister, played 15 years in the NFL with Philadelphia, Green Bay and Carolina. And boy was he a great player.

To the forecast center and Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: I have some facts and figures on earthquakes through the years, but I want you to stick around to explain to us exactly what happened in Asia, just because it's just so strange.

So let me - let me relay these facts to our viewers.

First, as we've reported, the south Asia earthquake is the fourth strongest on record. Here's a look at the other big quakes:

The world's strongest earthquake ever recorded measured 9.5. That was in Chile back in 1960. That was followed four years later by a 9.2 magnitude quake in Prince William Sound, Alaska, in 1964. In 1957, a 9.1 quake jolted Andrian (ph) - Andrian Islands, Alaska - so that's also in Alaska. And there's the weekend quake in Indonesia, which measured 9.0.

And, of course, this hit in the Indian Ocean, Chad, right near Indonesia.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Tell us what happened after that.

MYERS: Well, Carol, think about this whole thing as almost like trying to throw - if you were going to throw a large boulder into an ocean or into a lake. If you throw a boulder into the lake, there are going to be ripples from that boulder that you throw in.

Well, we didn't throw a boulder in the top. We threw a boulder in the bottom. And so as you - as that whole ground there shakes under there, there are ripples of water, just like the ripples where you'd throw a stone in the lake. Those ripples are going along and away from the center of the earthquake, which is that star - that star right there. Not that far, obviously, from Sumatra. So they picked up that shaking in Sumatra as well.

I'm going to go ahead and zoom in on this map so you can see. Here's Thailand and Phuket and the entire area - that splashing of the water, just continue to go "wham!" away from this star.

Now, we talk about this thing having far-reaching effects because they're not only the 9.0 here, but a 7.4 there and 7.2 there. There were so many other earthquakes in this entire what we call "the island arc." You get these - these mountains forming - like the Rocky Mountains - but they're actually - they're volcanoes as well. Volcanoes here and even Krakatoa was right there. Krakatoa back in 1883, something like that, caused huge, huge devastation; 30,000 people died from tsunamis from Krakatoa as it caused a little bit of shaking, especially down under the sea area. And that's - that shaking causes the water to push away. Can move about 500 miles an hour under the ocean, but as it gets closer to land it slows down to 20 or 30 mph, and then you just see this big, what looks like a tidal wave, but it has nothing at all to do with tides. It has everything to do with that shaking, that pushing of the land and of the water away from that surface, that spot down there, underneath the water, Carol.

COSTELLO: And, you know, so many of these people, Chad, had absolutely no warning. It was a beautiful, sunny day. The skies were blue. And all of a sudden, that huge wave - and we're talking about 90-foot waves - came up on shore and literally washed people, homes, cars, trees away.

MYERS: Well, you know, it has nothing to do with the weather. I know you're talking to the weather guy about this, but an earthquake has nothing at all to do with the weather. It has to do with plate tectonics. We have plates - one plate that's moving this wave, and another plate that's actually moving this way. As the plates came together, they shifted and they shook. The same type of plates that we have off the west coast of the United States. The same plates - the same subduction type zone that we have to the west of California, making all that ugly earthquake activity out there sometimes. Obviously, the one that happened during the World Series - another form of an earthquake there.

Here's Sumatra. The earthquake was here, under the water. And then that water pushed away. And as that water pushed away, the ripples under the water hit the land, all the way from Sri Lanka right up through India. And now we are having indications now that there were tsunamis also south of here. The waves kept going, and kept going to the west here, and in fact hit the west coast - hit the east coast of Africa, down there from, let's say, south of - oh, from Senegal all the way down even into South Africa itself. So we're going to have to watch out for that...

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: And some experts say too there could be aftershocks. So it may not be over yet. We'll get to that later though.

MYERS: There was a 7.2 aftershock, which is a significant earthquake in itself. So, yes.

COSTELLO: And maybe more to come.

MYERS: Sure.

COSTELLO: Chad, thank you.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Wasn't a very merry Christmas for many U.S. travelers. Coming up next, how a major computer-system failure has created a perfect storm of travel tie-ups.

You're watching DAYBREAK for a Monday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Did you have a horrible time at the airport this weekend? I know I did.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Troubles with two airlines left thousands of passengers stranded or separated. And at this time, it had little or nothing to do with the weather. Nothing at all.

CNN's Gary Neurenberg has more details for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY NEURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a Christmas weekend where thousands of holiday dreams didn't come true.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got in line and waited for four hours. So obviously, missed our flight.

NEURENBERG: Sue and Joe King (ph) wanted to take 20-month-old Hailey (ph) to Disney World.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're on stand-by now for a 3 p.m. flight.

NEURENBERG (on camera): And if that doesn't work?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a 7 p.m. that we're on stand-by for.

NEURENBERG: And if that doesn't work?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then the next morning, we might be on stand-by for that.

NEURENBERG: So how happy are you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not very happy.

NEURENBERG (voice-over): The Kings were not alone. When Delta subsidiary Comair canceled weekend flights because of computer problems, thousands had to scramble. The airline generally carries 30,000 passengers a day. By Sunday afternoon, it had begun to resume a limited schedule.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to continue to grow that improvement with the hopes of being at 100 percent back to normal by midweek.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, Philadelphia's a mess. Completely sold out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Got to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Got to go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on.

NEURENBERG: US Airways says it had several hundred flight attendants and baggage handlers phone in sick, separating an estimated 10,000 passengers from their luggage.

(on camera): By Sunday evening, US Airways claimed to have made great progress in reuniting passengers with their lost luggage. But clearly, it still had a long way to go.

(voice-over): And little Hailey King still has a long way to go to make it to Disney World. Her family failed to make it on two stand-by flights and called it quits.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going home. No Disney World. Next year.

Gary Neurenberg, for CNN, at Reagan National Airport.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And I'm telling you, people are still at the airport this morning. In fact - and I just want to share my nightmare with you, just to vent a little bit, because you know I've had absolutely no sleep because of that.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: But my flight was to take off from Detroit at 5:30. It did not take off until almost 10:00 p.m. Didn't get back at Newark until - oh, I would say, midnight. And then the taxi lines were so long because of the backup coming into the airport, you stood in line for a half hour. So I didn't get home until - what? - 1:30 a.m., Chad.

Are you feeling sorry for me, Chad?

MYERS: Oh no, not really, Carol. Because I have 13 people in my house.

COSTELLO: (LAUGHTER)

Oh, do you really?

MYERS: All my in-laws are in town, yes. Actually, I did get a lot - I got a lot of sleep last night, so no problem.

COSTELLO: Well, that's good. And they probably drove, so they probably were in a much better mood than I am this morning.

MYERS: Actually, they flew on Christmas Day.

COSTELLO: Oh, you know, that's smart actually.

MYERS: Yes, but - except for that Comair disaster, where all those people tried to get out on Christmas Day and they couldn't go anywhere because the computer glitched.

COSTELLO: Right, and that backed up people - that left 30,000 people stranded throughout the country. That means they had to get them all on another plane, which led to the problems yesterday. And then those baggage handlers called off sick in Philadelphia. And that was - what? - 300 cancellations on top of the 29 flights canceled on Christmas Day?

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: This was just ugly.

MYERS: I know.

COSTELLO: That leads us to today's e-mail question. MYERS: Oh, I see where you were going with this.

COSTELLO: I know, because I want to share in your pain. I want you to vent. Please! What was your holiday travel experience? Do tell. Send your stories to DAYBREAK@cnn.com. That's DAYBREAK@CNN.com

And of course, we'll be glad to read some on the air. And we're going to discuss this matter with our travel expert in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

MYERS: Because now people still have to get home.

COSTELLO: Exactly. Today's going to be another nightmare.

Here's what's all new, by the way, in the next half hour of DAYBREAK:

The people have spoken. Ukrainians take to the streets, this time in celebration. We'll tell you who won in a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: He's known for transforming living spaces from drab to fab on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." But prior to starring on the Emmy-winning makeover show, Thom Filicia founded his interior design firm in 1998, and was named one of "House Beautiful"'s Top 100 American designers. This year, his company was selected to design the U.S. pavilion at the 2005 World's Fair.

THOM FILICIA, FOUNDER & CEO, THOM FILICIA INC.: People that are successful are generally always questioning what it is they're doing, how it could be done better, and looking to the future.

I would tell students today, graduating from interior design, really focus on the business. Understand design, absolutely. Know your aesthetic. Develop your own point of view and have a philosophy. And also be very open to how you're going to acclimate to the new world of interior design and how it's changing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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