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CNN Live At Daybreak
Tsunamis Toll; Aftermath at Andaman; Deadly Aftermath; Beyond the Soundbite; Tsunami Relief; Tsunami Health Hazard
Aired December 28, 2004 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: More now on our top story, the ever growing aftermath of the tsunami disaster in Asia. The floodwaters have left behind piles of bodies and search is now under way for thousands of people still missing. So far at least 26,000 are reported dead, mostly in Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka. In the meantime, massive relief efforts are being launched around the region and the world. Aid is arriving in the hardest hit spots now.
As for survivors, their ordeal is only beginning. There are medical concerns over contaminated water, which could spawn killer diseases.
Thailand's Phuket Island is another hard hit area. The rich resort is a far cry from what it was three short days ago.
ITN's Adrian Britton picks it up from there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADRIAN BRITTON, ITN-TV REPORTER (on camera): The waters are calm and there is a gentle breeze here in Patong Beach tonight. But all around there is evidence of that awesome attack from the sea, wreckage, rubble and human shock. And as people here try to come to terms with what happened, the death toll continues to rise.
(voice-over): A mighty force rising out of the sea and crushing an idyllic resort. The tidal waves turned to torrents around the coastline of Phuket, lifting and toiling everything in their path. Crystal blue seas became muddy, destructive rivers. At nighttime, with their hotels now debris, they sought higher ground for safety, sleep and warmth.
The mortuaries were unable to accommodate the colossal toll of death. Body after body was laid out in halls. Those who escaped, like this tourist from Oxford, had amazing tales of survival.
SIMON VINE, BRITISH TOURIST: We all got out of the rooms, and then one of our friends, gone to hospital, we couldn't get out of the room. And he woke up and was asleep on his bed lying on -- woke up in water. Had to throw the TV through the window to climb out.
BRITTON: When the morning sea struck, many became separated from relatives, but with immense relief were later reunited.
Brothers there with memories of the desperate efforts of 9/11, with families bearing photographs of their lost ones in hope they, too, would be found.
At Phuket Airport this evening, holiday makers sprawled across the departure hall waiting for the next flight home.
Graham Metal from Tunbridge Wells was wounded but walking with his daughter, Charlotte (ph). Their holiday cut short. He told me another incredible story of escape.
GRAHAM METTLE, BRITISH TOURIST: The room was full of 14 or 15 people. They were screaming as the water started coming up in through the floor. We're outside on the balcony ready to jump somewhere, and it came closer and closer. I had just said to Charlotte, get ready, because I thought these guys are going to burst out of the room and just land on us because they were panicking so much.
BRITTON: The hospitals are inundated with more serious injuries. Others are living in relief agency tents. Their homes were swept away in furious seconds, but they are thankful they have not lost more.
Adrian Britton, ITV News, Phuket, Thailand.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And aftershocks are still being felt in the Andaman Islands, about 915 miles east of India's mainland. Thousands of people there are confirmed dead, thousands of others still unaccounted for.
CNN's Mallika Kapur is in Port Blair this morning.
Hello -- Mallika.
MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Carol.
Well it may look like a picture perfect scene behind me here, but the situation is far from perfect here in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. We are in Port Blair, the capital city of this archipelago, which, as you mentioned, is just about 1,000 kilometers away from the mainland of India.
Now the situation may look relatively calm behind me, but it was just over 48 hours ago that the islands here were battered by the tsunami waves. And as we are getting reports now of the extent of damage that was done and the extent of the number of casualties, those figures are much higher than anyone had expected.
Now Andaman and Nicobar Islands are isolated from India. They are a bit of a distance away from the mainland. The people here, lots of indigenous tribes who have resisted modernization and continue to maintain their own way of life. And also on Sunday when the tsunami waves broke the coast here, communication broke down. So it has been very difficult to get any report of the number of casualties and the extent of damage here.
But now that we are beginning to get some numbers, the extent for the lives lost here, officials are saying it's more than 3,000 people have lost their lives here in these islands. And these figures are much higher than what officials had previously expected.
So a lot of damage done here and also a lot of fear being caused. Of course these islands have continued to feel tremors. Port Blair itself felt tremors yesterday as high as six points on the Richter Scale and that has put a lot of fear into people's hearts. And a lot of people are exiting the islands.
We arrived here just a few hours ago this morning and we were the only ones coming in. There was a huge crowd at the airport of a lot of people trying to get out of the islands -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Can certainly understand.
Mallika Kapur reporting live for us this morning.
Our Web site at CNN.com is constantly being updated with new information on the tsunami disaster. Log on for the latest news on this and other stories, CNN.com.
The Fight for Iraq is the focus of the latest tape recording said to be from Osama bin Laden. The Arabic language network Al Jazeera released the bin Laden tape. It endorses Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror campaign in Iraq and appeals to Iraqis to boycott next month's elections.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OSAMA BIN LADEN (through translator): We ask God to accept this unity and bless it and for all to know the dear Muja (ph) head brother Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the prince of al Qaeda in Iraq. So we ask all our organization's brethren to listen to him and obey him in his good deeds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The CIA analysis of the tape says the voice appears to be authentic. Marks the first time bin Laden has mentioned al- Zarqawi.
In the next hour of DAYBREAK, terror expert Peter Bergen will join us live for more on Osama bin Laden. We'll discuss how the world's most wanted terrorist has been able to escape capture for so long.
The Ukrainian election results may be heading back to the supreme court. Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has claimed victory in the second round of voting. He has a commanding lead with just a few votes left to count. But Ukraine's prime minister says he won't concede the election and plans to appeal the results. He won the first vote in November, which was later nullified by the supreme court there.
Still to come on DAYBREAK, the waters from the powerful tsunami have receded, but another deadly threat could soon take its place. Coming up in 11 minutes, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us how disaster and disease go hand in hand. And we want to read about your personal stories. The address is DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Most of the deaths so far happened on the island nation of Sri Lanka and the magnitude of the disaster is only starting to emerge there.
Our Satinder Bindra joins us on the phone now from the southern coastal city of Galle.
Good morning.
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.
More than 12,000 people are dead already in Sri Lanka, a million and a half displaced, some 250,000 homeless. Gives you a sense and scope of the tragedy, and these numbers are likely to rise.
Carol, I've just come back from the main hospital here in Galle, and in one hospital alone over the past two days some 800 bodies have been brought there. Three hundred of these bodies remain unidentified and hospital officials are now beginning mass burials.
Right here in Galle the scene is truly devastating. I'm standing just in front of what used to be the bus station. Several buses lying over turtle on their sides. In fact, some buses even being flung onto rooftops. Concrete structures have been smashed. The police station has been smashed to bits. The damage here is very extensive, but relief operations have begun.
Two Indian airport helicopters landed here, Carol, within the past two to three hours and a massive clean up operation is also under way. Debris and the remains of a lot of stores are being removed. Right in front of me, Carol, I see a small store called Little Lanka Pastry Shop. Five people, all five young women were killed when water rushed into this shop. This is just about 100 feet from where I stand.
COSTELLO: You know, Satinder, so many people here in the United States have family members over there. Is there any way they can find out information?
BINDRA: Carol, there are numbers that even we at CNN now are flashing from time to time on our screens. The best thing to do is to contact the U.S. Embassy in Colombo. The U.S. Embassy is in touch with all the hospitals where wounded people could perhaps have been taken to. And the embassy's staff are doing all they can, I hear, here on the ground to help.
Many Western tourists, as you know, arrive here in Galle every year. It's a very popular tourist resort, very sunny and nice beaches. But many holidays for Western tourists have been wrecked because of these huge waves. Carol, some of these waves were 10, 15, 20 feet high and they really smashed everything in sight.
Seeing Galle from the air as I arrived, little boats were thrown around like pieces of toys. There's a ship that sunk in the harbor. The damage here is quite extensive.
COSTELLO: Satinder Bindra, reporting live from Galle in Sri Lanka, thank you.
The death and destruction stretches from Indonesia to Sri Lanka. And it's hard to imagine anyone surviving the world's worst earthquake in 40 years, but they did and their stories are quite amazing. We take you Beyond the Soundbite now with one woman's fight to stay alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOIRA LEE, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR: I was actually sitting in a coffee shop directly on the water. And we didn't actually know what was going on, I guess, since they are so unpredictable, but we were having coffee. And the woman in the coffee shop said to us the water is too high. And she kept saying that. And I said what does that mean? And not a minute later she screamed run and we just all started running. And the water came really quickly.
We started jogging through the streets just trying to get to the mountains. And my friend and I just started running. And every time we turned a corner, we thought we lost -- or the water had stopped. But when we'd come to a through street, the water would be there. So we ran for about several streets with the water right at our heels. And then when we got behind several buildings and streets, we got to the base of the mountain.
And it was like a mass exodus out of the city, and thousands of people on scooters and walking and in trucks just moving really slowly up the mountain. So we eventually got a ride with somebody in their truck and they drove us to the top. But since we were there for the first tidal wave, we were -- since we were right there when it happened, we saw the other few, or however many there were, hit by the time we were at the top of the mountain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Moira Lee was a guest on "LARRY KING LIVE" last night.
Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:44 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.
Lisa Montgomery is scheduled to be in federal court in Missouri today. She is the woman charged with strangling an expectant mother and cutting her 8-month-old fetus from the womb.
Ninety-nine point nine percent of the votes are now counted in Ukraine's presidential election and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko remains in the lead. Yet his rival, Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych, says he will not concede.
In money news, oil prices continue to fall, plunging almost $3 a barrel yesterday. Typically that helps the market, but it didn't seem to have any impact on equities.
In culture, George Carlin says he plans to enter a drug rehab program. The 67-year-old comedian says he noticed he had a problem with wine and the prescription painkiller Vicodin. He says he chose rehab so that his use of drugs and alcohol would not get him into deeper trouble.
In sports, the St. Louis Rams kept their playoff hopes alive with a 27 win over the undermanned Eagles. Philadelphia had rested many of its starters to avoid injury, because, you know, Philadelphia has a lock on the playoffs.
To the Forecast Center and Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: They are already in, aren't they, Carol? Yes.
COSTELLO: I think they have home field advantage as well.
MYERS: Exactly.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.
Those are the latest headlines.
And, Chad, you know we've been talking about survival stories as well this morning. A lot of interesting stories out there to tell.
Well I guess they've turned Chad's microphone off, so allow me to share with you.
MYERS: I'm still here.
COSTELLO: Are you listening?
MYERS: Yes. I was waiting for you to tell me one of them.
COSTELLO: I thought you knew about this. This is amazing. It's sad and, I don't know, sad and happy at the same time, I guess. This survivor story comes from the woman on the cover of that magazine, supermodel Petra Nemcova. She's on the cover of "Sports Illustrated."
Nemcova tells the "New York Daily News" she had to cling to the top of a palm tree for eight hours in Thailand.
MYERS: Wow!
COSTELLO: She had a broken pelvis and other injuries, and she watched her boyfriend being swept out to see.
MYERS: Holy cow!
COSTELLO: She also tells of hearing the cries of children at the start of the tsunami and then those cries falling silent.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: She also says she saw bodies rushing past her in the raging water. But she's in the hospital this morning, and just an awful -- just so many awful stories.
MYERS: Well you know so often people just listen for the numbers. What's the number now, is it 22,000, is it 24,000, is it 26,000, but every number is a person, you know, it's just not a number.
COSTELLO: Well, and you know what's really sad, I mean a third of the dead are said to be children because they just couldn't run fast enough.
MYERS: I see.
COSTELLO: There's a chilling picture on the cover of "The New York Times" this morning. I'm just going to give you a glimpse of it. And you see it here.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: These children you see, all of them are dead, and this is their mother grieving beside them.
MYERS: Probably not able to swim very well as well.
I did hear frightening accounts of children actually running into the sand, running into the surf as the water went out because there were fish there and they were picking up the fish thinking they could take them home for their parents. Look what I got. And then the water came rushing back in two minutes later.
COSTELLO: A little later on DAYBREAK, we're going to talk to someone from UNICEF, so, I don't know, we'll see what he has to say.
MYERS: All right.
COSTELLO: Thanks -- Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: In the wake of the receding water, a second wave of potential disaster lies in wait. Coming up next, we'll examine the health aspects of this disaster.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: UNICEF is one of the many relief organizations that sprang into action to help out tsunami survivors. The group's program officer Prakash Gunani joins us live from Chennai Tamil Nadu, India where he's coordinating efforts for the U.N. agency.
Hello.
PRAKASH GUNANI, UNICEF: Hello, good morning.
COSTELLO: You know my first question is where do you begin?
GUNANI: Well we really are cracking at it from day one and it's 72 hours down. And our 24-hour emergency operation center is full- fledged functioning for the last 72 hours.
COSTELLO: You know this picture on the front of "The New York Times," it's from where you are in Tamil Nadu and we see a mother and we see a group of dead children near her, some of these are her children. How common is this scene where you are?
GUNANI: Well the districts and reach our teams are out. And what I have seen is this has been a scenario that we have been seeing in most of the seven severely affected districts of the state of Tamil Nadu in south India. The situation is also that there are other men who have lost two of their children and still looking for the third child who is missing. And that sort of desperation is something that is very pathetic.
COSTELLO: How many children do you think lost their lives?
GUNANI: We don't have specific figures of children, but overall figures for the state of Tamil Nadu is 3,500. That is the official statement from the government of Tamil Nadu. But we have estimates that for every two of these numbers there are three more who are missing all over the state.
COSTELLO: Are many children searching for their parents? Do you find a lot of lost children out there?
GUNANI: No, actually there aren't many lost children out there, but there are a lot of women who are head of households also in the relief camps which have been set up. Nearly 250 relief camps have been set up and these are full of largely women and children. So we are in the process of really identifying many of the women head of households that would be requiring future support.
We are moving into phase two of the rapid relief response that we have given here, and that includes looking at the psychosocial aspects of the women and children in these relief camps and to be able to provide them some sort of counseling, which is very crucial at this stage.
COSTELLO: Can certainly understand.
Prakash Gunani joining us live from Tamil Nadu, India with UNICEF. Thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
A lot of people right now want to help the earthquake victims but feel like they are a world away. Well a number of charitable organizations are accepting donations. AmeriCares number is 800-486- HELP. Contact Doctors Without Borders, too, at 888-392-0392. For more on the Red Cross International Response Fund call 1-800-HELP-NOW. CARE USA is 1-800-521-CARE. Oxfam America is a Boston-based international relief agency. Their number 800-776-9326. And call 888-56-CHILD for Worldvision.
Are these numbers all on our Web site? They are on our Web site, CNN.com, because I know those went by very quickly.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Relief workers have now arrived on the scene in many of the areas hit hardest by these massive tsunamis. One of the biggest concerns now is disease.
Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports the situation is an epidemic waiting to happen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well the tsunami may have come and gone but the lingering health concerns will persist for sometime in many regions around this particular area of the world.
First of all, a gruesome thought, but decomposing bodies washing up on beaches. We've talked to health care workers in hospitals out there who say this is a concern for epidemics. They're encouraging that these bodies be identified, and either cremated or buried as soon as possible. They can be a source of disease. A gruesome thought, no question.
Also, lack of clean water. Floodwaters tend to contaminate all the other water supplies. So it's important to either boil your water or use bottled water for sometime. Chlorine tablets already being passed out as well to try and decontaminate the water.
The same thing goes for food. Again, food supplies may have been contaminated. Also, there is no electricity. So, you can't refrigerator food. That makes it much more difficult to have the clean, safe food.
In general, there is a lack of sanitary conditions, which will probably persist for some time. People sleeping out in fields there, we see some of the images. People sleeping out in fields, they don't have shelter. Again, they're going to be an increase in water borne diseases, including dysentery, perhaps malaria, as well. A lot of people being cautioned at this time.
Of course, relief efforts already under way. Several of the countries did have existing infrastructures to try and deal with this. India, perhaps one of the best equipped to deal with this. But other countries not so well equipped at all. They had no warning in the infrastructure and the communication suffered, as well. You can see the United Nations probably going to be sending not only personnel but also supplies to try and combat this. The Red Cross and Red Crescent, as well, Doctors Without Borders probably going to be sending personnel out to this part of the world to try and deal with some of the existing health problems.
I may be on the ground there as well within the next couple of days to try and give you firsthand reports of the health care relief going on in that part of the world
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And, Chad, I think Sanjay has arrived this morning and he'll begin his first reports, I don't know, in the next hour or two on CNN. And I just can't imagine what he'll see when he arrives there. There are so many dead bodies lying on the beaches there.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: And the clean up, so to speak, has just begun.
MYERS: Right. And the lack of water and the lack of refrigeration, obviously, reminds me of being in a hurricane, but we didn't have the dead bodies laying around. Of course it does become almost primal to get out there and have nothing and try to scrounge for just clean water to stay hydrated. It's going to be a very bizarre scene over there for a while.
Carol, you know we talked about this Northridge earthquake and we talk about the earthquake, remember the one that was during the World Series, right around 7.0 earthquakes. This was a 9.0 earthquake. That doesn't mean that it's two times stronger. Every time you go from 8 to 9, 9 to 10 -- I'm out of time. I'll get to this in a second.
Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: I apologize, Chad, because we do, we have to begin the next hour of DAYBREAK. It starts right now.
MYERS: OK. OK.
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 28, 2004 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: More now on our top story, the ever growing aftermath of the tsunami disaster in Asia. The floodwaters have left behind piles of bodies and search is now under way for thousands of people still missing. So far at least 26,000 are reported dead, mostly in Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka. In the meantime, massive relief efforts are being launched around the region and the world. Aid is arriving in the hardest hit spots now.
As for survivors, their ordeal is only beginning. There are medical concerns over contaminated water, which could spawn killer diseases.
Thailand's Phuket Island is another hard hit area. The rich resort is a far cry from what it was three short days ago.
ITN's Adrian Britton picks it up from there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADRIAN BRITTON, ITN-TV REPORTER (on camera): The waters are calm and there is a gentle breeze here in Patong Beach tonight. But all around there is evidence of that awesome attack from the sea, wreckage, rubble and human shock. And as people here try to come to terms with what happened, the death toll continues to rise.
(voice-over): A mighty force rising out of the sea and crushing an idyllic resort. The tidal waves turned to torrents around the coastline of Phuket, lifting and toiling everything in their path. Crystal blue seas became muddy, destructive rivers. At nighttime, with their hotels now debris, they sought higher ground for safety, sleep and warmth.
The mortuaries were unable to accommodate the colossal toll of death. Body after body was laid out in halls. Those who escaped, like this tourist from Oxford, had amazing tales of survival.
SIMON VINE, BRITISH TOURIST: We all got out of the rooms, and then one of our friends, gone to hospital, we couldn't get out of the room. And he woke up and was asleep on his bed lying on -- woke up in water. Had to throw the TV through the window to climb out.
BRITTON: When the morning sea struck, many became separated from relatives, but with immense relief were later reunited.
Brothers there with memories of the desperate efforts of 9/11, with families bearing photographs of their lost ones in hope they, too, would be found.
At Phuket Airport this evening, holiday makers sprawled across the departure hall waiting for the next flight home.
Graham Metal from Tunbridge Wells was wounded but walking with his daughter, Charlotte (ph). Their holiday cut short. He told me another incredible story of escape.
GRAHAM METTLE, BRITISH TOURIST: The room was full of 14 or 15 people. They were screaming as the water started coming up in through the floor. We're outside on the balcony ready to jump somewhere, and it came closer and closer. I had just said to Charlotte, get ready, because I thought these guys are going to burst out of the room and just land on us because they were panicking so much.
BRITTON: The hospitals are inundated with more serious injuries. Others are living in relief agency tents. Their homes were swept away in furious seconds, but they are thankful they have not lost more.
Adrian Britton, ITV News, Phuket, Thailand.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And aftershocks are still being felt in the Andaman Islands, about 915 miles east of India's mainland. Thousands of people there are confirmed dead, thousands of others still unaccounted for.
CNN's Mallika Kapur is in Port Blair this morning.
Hello -- Mallika.
MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Carol.
Well it may look like a picture perfect scene behind me here, but the situation is far from perfect here in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. We are in Port Blair, the capital city of this archipelago, which, as you mentioned, is just about 1,000 kilometers away from the mainland of India.
Now the situation may look relatively calm behind me, but it was just over 48 hours ago that the islands here were battered by the tsunami waves. And as we are getting reports now of the extent of damage that was done and the extent of the number of casualties, those figures are much higher than anyone had expected.
Now Andaman and Nicobar Islands are isolated from India. They are a bit of a distance away from the mainland. The people here, lots of indigenous tribes who have resisted modernization and continue to maintain their own way of life. And also on Sunday when the tsunami waves broke the coast here, communication broke down. So it has been very difficult to get any report of the number of casualties and the extent of damage here.
But now that we are beginning to get some numbers, the extent for the lives lost here, officials are saying it's more than 3,000 people have lost their lives here in these islands. And these figures are much higher than what officials had previously expected.
So a lot of damage done here and also a lot of fear being caused. Of course these islands have continued to feel tremors. Port Blair itself felt tremors yesterday as high as six points on the Richter Scale and that has put a lot of fear into people's hearts. And a lot of people are exiting the islands.
We arrived here just a few hours ago this morning and we were the only ones coming in. There was a huge crowd at the airport of a lot of people trying to get out of the islands -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Can certainly understand.
Mallika Kapur reporting live for us this morning.
Our Web site at CNN.com is constantly being updated with new information on the tsunami disaster. Log on for the latest news on this and other stories, CNN.com.
The Fight for Iraq is the focus of the latest tape recording said to be from Osama bin Laden. The Arabic language network Al Jazeera released the bin Laden tape. It endorses Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror campaign in Iraq and appeals to Iraqis to boycott next month's elections.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OSAMA BIN LADEN (through translator): We ask God to accept this unity and bless it and for all to know the dear Muja (ph) head brother Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the prince of al Qaeda in Iraq. So we ask all our organization's brethren to listen to him and obey him in his good deeds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The CIA analysis of the tape says the voice appears to be authentic. Marks the first time bin Laden has mentioned al- Zarqawi.
In the next hour of DAYBREAK, terror expert Peter Bergen will join us live for more on Osama bin Laden. We'll discuss how the world's most wanted terrorist has been able to escape capture for so long.
The Ukrainian election results may be heading back to the supreme court. Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has claimed victory in the second round of voting. He has a commanding lead with just a few votes left to count. But Ukraine's prime minister says he won't concede the election and plans to appeal the results. He won the first vote in November, which was later nullified by the supreme court there.
Still to come on DAYBREAK, the waters from the powerful tsunami have receded, but another deadly threat could soon take its place. Coming up in 11 minutes, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us how disaster and disease go hand in hand. And we want to read about your personal stories. The address is DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Most of the deaths so far happened on the island nation of Sri Lanka and the magnitude of the disaster is only starting to emerge there.
Our Satinder Bindra joins us on the phone now from the southern coastal city of Galle.
Good morning.
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.
More than 12,000 people are dead already in Sri Lanka, a million and a half displaced, some 250,000 homeless. Gives you a sense and scope of the tragedy, and these numbers are likely to rise.
Carol, I've just come back from the main hospital here in Galle, and in one hospital alone over the past two days some 800 bodies have been brought there. Three hundred of these bodies remain unidentified and hospital officials are now beginning mass burials.
Right here in Galle the scene is truly devastating. I'm standing just in front of what used to be the bus station. Several buses lying over turtle on their sides. In fact, some buses even being flung onto rooftops. Concrete structures have been smashed. The police station has been smashed to bits. The damage here is very extensive, but relief operations have begun.
Two Indian airport helicopters landed here, Carol, within the past two to three hours and a massive clean up operation is also under way. Debris and the remains of a lot of stores are being removed. Right in front of me, Carol, I see a small store called Little Lanka Pastry Shop. Five people, all five young women were killed when water rushed into this shop. This is just about 100 feet from where I stand.
COSTELLO: You know, Satinder, so many people here in the United States have family members over there. Is there any way they can find out information?
BINDRA: Carol, there are numbers that even we at CNN now are flashing from time to time on our screens. The best thing to do is to contact the U.S. Embassy in Colombo. The U.S. Embassy is in touch with all the hospitals where wounded people could perhaps have been taken to. And the embassy's staff are doing all they can, I hear, here on the ground to help.
Many Western tourists, as you know, arrive here in Galle every year. It's a very popular tourist resort, very sunny and nice beaches. But many holidays for Western tourists have been wrecked because of these huge waves. Carol, some of these waves were 10, 15, 20 feet high and they really smashed everything in sight.
Seeing Galle from the air as I arrived, little boats were thrown around like pieces of toys. There's a ship that sunk in the harbor. The damage here is quite extensive.
COSTELLO: Satinder Bindra, reporting live from Galle in Sri Lanka, thank you.
The death and destruction stretches from Indonesia to Sri Lanka. And it's hard to imagine anyone surviving the world's worst earthquake in 40 years, but they did and their stories are quite amazing. We take you Beyond the Soundbite now with one woman's fight to stay alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOIRA LEE, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR: I was actually sitting in a coffee shop directly on the water. And we didn't actually know what was going on, I guess, since they are so unpredictable, but we were having coffee. And the woman in the coffee shop said to us the water is too high. And she kept saying that. And I said what does that mean? And not a minute later she screamed run and we just all started running. And the water came really quickly.
We started jogging through the streets just trying to get to the mountains. And my friend and I just started running. And every time we turned a corner, we thought we lost -- or the water had stopped. But when we'd come to a through street, the water would be there. So we ran for about several streets with the water right at our heels. And then when we got behind several buildings and streets, we got to the base of the mountain.
And it was like a mass exodus out of the city, and thousands of people on scooters and walking and in trucks just moving really slowly up the mountain. So we eventually got a ride with somebody in their truck and they drove us to the top. But since we were there for the first tidal wave, we were -- since we were right there when it happened, we saw the other few, or however many there were, hit by the time we were at the top of the mountain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Moira Lee was a guest on "LARRY KING LIVE" last night.
Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:44 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.
Lisa Montgomery is scheduled to be in federal court in Missouri today. She is the woman charged with strangling an expectant mother and cutting her 8-month-old fetus from the womb.
Ninety-nine point nine percent of the votes are now counted in Ukraine's presidential election and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko remains in the lead. Yet his rival, Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych, says he will not concede.
In money news, oil prices continue to fall, plunging almost $3 a barrel yesterday. Typically that helps the market, but it didn't seem to have any impact on equities.
In culture, George Carlin says he plans to enter a drug rehab program. The 67-year-old comedian says he noticed he had a problem with wine and the prescription painkiller Vicodin. He says he chose rehab so that his use of drugs and alcohol would not get him into deeper trouble.
In sports, the St. Louis Rams kept their playoff hopes alive with a 27 win over the undermanned Eagles. Philadelphia had rested many of its starters to avoid injury, because, you know, Philadelphia has a lock on the playoffs.
To the Forecast Center and Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: They are already in, aren't they, Carol? Yes.
COSTELLO: I think they have home field advantage as well.
MYERS: Exactly.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.
Those are the latest headlines.
And, Chad, you know we've been talking about survival stories as well this morning. A lot of interesting stories out there to tell.
Well I guess they've turned Chad's microphone off, so allow me to share with you.
MYERS: I'm still here.
COSTELLO: Are you listening?
MYERS: Yes. I was waiting for you to tell me one of them.
COSTELLO: I thought you knew about this. This is amazing. It's sad and, I don't know, sad and happy at the same time, I guess. This survivor story comes from the woman on the cover of that magazine, supermodel Petra Nemcova. She's on the cover of "Sports Illustrated."
Nemcova tells the "New York Daily News" she had to cling to the top of a palm tree for eight hours in Thailand.
MYERS: Wow!
COSTELLO: She had a broken pelvis and other injuries, and she watched her boyfriend being swept out to see.
MYERS: Holy cow!
COSTELLO: She also tells of hearing the cries of children at the start of the tsunami and then those cries falling silent.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: She also says she saw bodies rushing past her in the raging water. But she's in the hospital this morning, and just an awful -- just so many awful stories.
MYERS: Well you know so often people just listen for the numbers. What's the number now, is it 22,000, is it 24,000, is it 26,000, but every number is a person, you know, it's just not a number.
COSTELLO: Well, and you know what's really sad, I mean a third of the dead are said to be children because they just couldn't run fast enough.
MYERS: I see.
COSTELLO: There's a chilling picture on the cover of "The New York Times" this morning. I'm just going to give you a glimpse of it. And you see it here.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: These children you see, all of them are dead, and this is their mother grieving beside them.
MYERS: Probably not able to swim very well as well.
I did hear frightening accounts of children actually running into the sand, running into the surf as the water went out because there were fish there and they were picking up the fish thinking they could take them home for their parents. Look what I got. And then the water came rushing back in two minutes later.
COSTELLO: A little later on DAYBREAK, we're going to talk to someone from UNICEF, so, I don't know, we'll see what he has to say.
MYERS: All right.
COSTELLO: Thanks -- Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: In the wake of the receding water, a second wave of potential disaster lies in wait. Coming up next, we'll examine the health aspects of this disaster.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: UNICEF is one of the many relief organizations that sprang into action to help out tsunami survivors. The group's program officer Prakash Gunani joins us live from Chennai Tamil Nadu, India where he's coordinating efforts for the U.N. agency.
Hello.
PRAKASH GUNANI, UNICEF: Hello, good morning.
COSTELLO: You know my first question is where do you begin?
GUNANI: Well we really are cracking at it from day one and it's 72 hours down. And our 24-hour emergency operation center is full- fledged functioning for the last 72 hours.
COSTELLO: You know this picture on the front of "The New York Times," it's from where you are in Tamil Nadu and we see a mother and we see a group of dead children near her, some of these are her children. How common is this scene where you are?
GUNANI: Well the districts and reach our teams are out. And what I have seen is this has been a scenario that we have been seeing in most of the seven severely affected districts of the state of Tamil Nadu in south India. The situation is also that there are other men who have lost two of their children and still looking for the third child who is missing. And that sort of desperation is something that is very pathetic.
COSTELLO: How many children do you think lost their lives?
GUNANI: We don't have specific figures of children, but overall figures for the state of Tamil Nadu is 3,500. That is the official statement from the government of Tamil Nadu. But we have estimates that for every two of these numbers there are three more who are missing all over the state.
COSTELLO: Are many children searching for their parents? Do you find a lot of lost children out there?
GUNANI: No, actually there aren't many lost children out there, but there are a lot of women who are head of households also in the relief camps which have been set up. Nearly 250 relief camps have been set up and these are full of largely women and children. So we are in the process of really identifying many of the women head of households that would be requiring future support.
We are moving into phase two of the rapid relief response that we have given here, and that includes looking at the psychosocial aspects of the women and children in these relief camps and to be able to provide them some sort of counseling, which is very crucial at this stage.
COSTELLO: Can certainly understand.
Prakash Gunani joining us live from Tamil Nadu, India with UNICEF. Thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
A lot of people right now want to help the earthquake victims but feel like they are a world away. Well a number of charitable organizations are accepting donations. AmeriCares number is 800-486- HELP. Contact Doctors Without Borders, too, at 888-392-0392. For more on the Red Cross International Response Fund call 1-800-HELP-NOW. CARE USA is 1-800-521-CARE. Oxfam America is a Boston-based international relief agency. Their number 800-776-9326. And call 888-56-CHILD for Worldvision.
Are these numbers all on our Web site? They are on our Web site, CNN.com, because I know those went by very quickly.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Relief workers have now arrived on the scene in many of the areas hit hardest by these massive tsunamis. One of the biggest concerns now is disease.
Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports the situation is an epidemic waiting to happen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well the tsunami may have come and gone but the lingering health concerns will persist for sometime in many regions around this particular area of the world.
First of all, a gruesome thought, but decomposing bodies washing up on beaches. We've talked to health care workers in hospitals out there who say this is a concern for epidemics. They're encouraging that these bodies be identified, and either cremated or buried as soon as possible. They can be a source of disease. A gruesome thought, no question.
Also, lack of clean water. Floodwaters tend to contaminate all the other water supplies. So it's important to either boil your water or use bottled water for sometime. Chlorine tablets already being passed out as well to try and decontaminate the water.
The same thing goes for food. Again, food supplies may have been contaminated. Also, there is no electricity. So, you can't refrigerator food. That makes it much more difficult to have the clean, safe food.
In general, there is a lack of sanitary conditions, which will probably persist for some time. People sleeping out in fields there, we see some of the images. People sleeping out in fields, they don't have shelter. Again, they're going to be an increase in water borne diseases, including dysentery, perhaps malaria, as well. A lot of people being cautioned at this time.
Of course, relief efforts already under way. Several of the countries did have existing infrastructures to try and deal with this. India, perhaps one of the best equipped to deal with this. But other countries not so well equipped at all. They had no warning in the infrastructure and the communication suffered, as well. You can see the United Nations probably going to be sending not only personnel but also supplies to try and combat this. The Red Cross and Red Crescent, as well, Doctors Without Borders probably going to be sending personnel out to this part of the world to try and deal with some of the existing health problems.
I may be on the ground there as well within the next couple of days to try and give you firsthand reports of the health care relief going on in that part of the world
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And, Chad, I think Sanjay has arrived this morning and he'll begin his first reports, I don't know, in the next hour or two on CNN. And I just can't imagine what he'll see when he arrives there. There are so many dead bodies lying on the beaches there.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: And the clean up, so to speak, has just begun.
MYERS: Right. And the lack of water and the lack of refrigeration, obviously, reminds me of being in a hurricane, but we didn't have the dead bodies laying around. Of course it does become almost primal to get out there and have nothing and try to scrounge for just clean water to stay hydrated. It's going to be a very bizarre scene over there for a while.
Carol, you know we talked about this Northridge earthquake and we talk about the earthquake, remember the one that was during the World Series, right around 7.0 earthquakes. This was a 9.0 earthquake. That doesn't mean that it's two times stronger. Every time you go from 8 to 9, 9 to 10 -- I'm out of time. I'll get to this in a second.
Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: I apologize, Chad, because we do, we have to begin the next hour of DAYBREAK. It starts right now.
MYERS: OK. OK.
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