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CNN Live At Daybreak

Tsunami Disaster; Treatment of Disease

Aired December 30, 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: Here's what's all new in the next half-hour of DAYBREAK.
You heard David say that a tsunami warning causes widespread panic as displaced residents scramble for higher ground. We'll get the latest in a live report from the region.

Plus, ham radio to the rescue. We'll show you how Asian amateurs are bridging the communications gap.

And a reminder, our e-mail Question of the Day, tsunami relief: is the United States doing enough? We want to hear from you this morning. The address DAYBREAK@CNN.com. That's DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.

Now in the News.

Warnings of new tsunamis spread across devastated areas of South Asia this morning, but they were false alarms. The warnings, including one issued by India's government, were based on reports of new earthquakes, but monitors say there was no seismic activity.

The FBI is out with a new bulletin giving details of al Qaeda surveillance activities here in the United States. But the bulletin says there's nothing to indicate al Qaeda has moved into an operational stage for an attack.

A bond hearing is scheduled today in Missouri for Lisa Montgomery. She's accused of killing a pregnant woman and taking the baby from her womb. Montgomery is charged with kidnapping resulting in murder.

CNN has learned that during the past four days laser beams have illuminated the cockpits of six commercial airliners approaching U.S. airports. A government official says none of the flights were affected. The government warned last month that terrorists might use lasers to try to blind pilots.

To the Forecast Center now and Chad.

Good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol. I got three lasers for Christmas.

COSTELLO: Did you really?

MYERS: Yes, one that measures distance from wall to wall and another one that goes vertical, another one that goes horizontal. You see them on the commercials all the time, you know, you want to hang your pictures straight, well get our laser. So you know hopefully this is just some kids clowning around. But I got lasered in my car this morning, but I was only doing 64 so I didn't get pulled over. That's the good news.

COSTELLO: Sixty-four was the speed limit?

MYERS: Yes, 65 actually. I was going one under. He probably looked at his watch, went holy cow there's one guy that's not speeding. I better pull him over see what's going on.

Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: A new tsunami alert issued by India's government was heard on radio this morning across the area devastated by last weekend's killer waves. And the warning caused considerable alarm in many parts of South Asia and it turned out to be a false alarm.

CNN's Aneesh Raman is in the resort city of Phuket in Thailand.

Hello.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.

The death toll here now rising to just under 2,000 and it is far from finished. Thousands remain missing. And as we go forward, as each day passes, the largest number of those is presumed dead.

A new video is now surfacing, as it seems to everyday, given that this was a wide number of tourists here, dramatic video of the destructive waves that consumed Thailand's southern coast. These video, you know it gives everyone in the world a stark glimpse into what these people were going through but fails to capture the exact shock that they encountered as these enormous walls of water came at them.

Carol, we just came back from the relief center in Phuket. It's really the heart of the relief efforts in the entire region. There a surreal aspect in this one walkway. On one side, a wall of hope, if you will, pictures of those that are missing, made by their family members. All nationalities represented. One German 5-year-old boy's picture was there. His mother's number underneath. Next to that an American man that was missing. His friend's phone number. People desperately looking to find their displaced relatives.

But just across that walkway, pictures of the dead posted for identification purposes so that relatives can try and find closure.

But, Carol, as we go further on, the bodies that are being found are now becoming beyond -- they can't identify them, they've just composed so much. The relatives of those victims will not even get that closure.

There are thousands of Thais who have come from all over this country to help in this effort. It's been a remarkable outpouring of support. Those that speak foreign languages especially have come to help translate. And it really has shown to be an inherent aspect of this culture, Carol, compassion in this time of crisis.

COSTELLO: Aneesh Raman, Phuket, Thailand, reporting live this morning. Thank you.

You know it has been so difficult to get any information about the areas hit hard by those tsunamis. You heard Aneesh just say that. No phone lines, few cells available for cell phones. Well to the rescue, ham radio operators. They're at work in Thailand reuniting families and reporting news of damage back home.

By coincidence, some members of the National Institute of Amateur Radio were meeting on Andaman Island for a conference. Well the mission changed once the earthquake struck. Now members have taken their equipment and spread out to help.

Live from Bangkok, Thailand, the man coordinating the effort by ham radio operators, Charlie Harpole.

Good morning -- Charlie.

CHARLES HARPOLE, HAM RADIO OPERATOR: Hi there. How are you?

COSTELLO: I'm fine. Thank you for joining us.

Tell us how this works. You get requests from the Red Cross and then you send them out to ham radio operators throughout Asia to see if they can find information. What happens next?

HARPOLE: Well the individual ham radio operators that receive the requests for identification and health and welfare of missing people, they then dispatch other ham radio operators either in a car or on foot to search out these missing folks. And then the success stories, of course, they find someone and discover that they're OK and relay back then through the ham radio network to the original ham radio sender and report your relative is OK and is happy to hear from you.

COSTELLO: Just so amazing, Charlie. I want to bring in Chad Myers, because he's an amateur ham radio buff himself.

Chad, go ahead. MYERS: Charles, I'm interested about the skip (ph), as they call it, or about how far the signal can actually go before it has to be, let's say, translated by somebody else and sent again and then sent again. How far can your signal go around the globe before it has to be picked up by somebody and then sent again and then again and then again, like we have to do with satellites?

HARPOLE: Well actually the frequencies that -- the radio bands that ham radio are assigned, there are a few of those bands that are worldwide,...

MYERS: Wow!

HARPOLE: ... so that particularly in the dawn or dusk periods...

MYERS: Sure.

HARPOLE: ... you can transmit around the world with clear voice signals or by telegraphy or even there are some stations that use a form of television or radio teletype.

MYERS: Are you having any difficulties with language barriers?

HARPOLE: Well, yes, of course. There are how many, I suppose hundreds of languages within the realm of the Indian Ocean in the affected area, and that is a problem. But fortunately, in the area of ham radio at least, English has become virtually standard worldwide. And thus it's very handy that we all have this, more or less, common language. And of course those who speak Hindi or some other domestic local language also have English and they can use English by short wave radio.

COSTELLO: Charlie, tell us some of the reunion stories before you have to go.

HARPOLE: Well one of the very first ones occurred on Andaman Island that I witnessed. We woke up pretty much to the earthquake there on Andaman and the city of Port Blair at a hotel. And the hotel was swaying and swinging, and we all -- every resident and the staff ran out of the hotel.

Then as soon as things calmed down, we sneaked back in carefully and grabbed our radio equipment. Brought it outside where it would be safe, where we would be safe away from the possibility of a building falling and set up the radio. Hooked it to the generator for electricity that was supplies by the hotel and set up the portable antenna and established contact between Port Blair, the city on the Andaman Island there in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

We established radio contact, two-way voice contact between our station and a station in Hyderabad, India. Well luck would have it, one of the waiters from the hotel, who happened to be standing by, said my mother is in Hyderabad, could you possibly take her phone number and tell her I'm OK? So of course we passed that message right away to a ham radio station in Hyderabad, India. He took down the phone number, made the phone call, and within five minutes was able to come back on the radio and say your mom is very relieved that her son working there as a waiter is OK. And we were all of course applauding and happy that we could serve so well and so quickly.

COSTELLO: Well, Charlie, we're happy...

HARPOLE: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... you're there helping out there. And thank you for your wonderful stories this morning.

Charlie Harpole joining us live from Bangkok, Thailand.

When the earth's plates move there is nothing anyone can do but try to understand. Ahead, the science behind earthquakes.

And disease threatens to kill thousands in a region that has seen more than its share of death. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a closer look at the new danger lurking in the chaos.

And our e-mail Question of the Morning, tsunami relief: is the United States doing enough? Let us know what you think, DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:45 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

Six months before a scandal at the Air Force Academy became public an anonymous letter told top Air Force officials that female cadets were being raped at the institution. The letter dated June 28, 2002 was released by the Pentagon's inspector general.

In money news, McDonald's Corporation is considering requiring its chicken suppliers to use more humane slaughter methods. People for the Ethical Treatment for Animals claims some chickens are now scalded to death.

In culture, the past two years more than 1,200 schools have stopped serving children milk in paper cartons. School officials say when the milk is in plastic bottles more kids drink it.

In sports, Cleveland's LeBron James collided with Houston's Dikembe Mutombo and left the game in the first half. James suffered a bruised bone in his face. Houston won the game.

And, Chad, in parts of the Indian Ocean, entire islands were swept under by the tsunamis. I understand you have some new satellite pictures to show us.

MYERS: You know we do. It's kind of ironic at where this entire tsunami went. It went in two different directions, one east and one west. And it depends on where the island was with the tsunami or close to the earthquake.

This is actually Trinkat Island and the before and the after picture. The before picture taken on the 21st of December where you can see there's one island. And then after, there are actually two islands. Similar to what happened down into parts of Florida during the hurricanes when islands were literally cut in half because of the water surging in.

Now I'm not sure whether the water receded and that isthmus, if you will, that middle part of the island actually came back into view or not. But clearly when the water was over that island, it swept everything from one side of the island completely out to sea on the other side of the island. And this happened a lot to a lot of those small little islands. Some of them with populations of over 100,000 water completely washing over the entire island. That was very close to the epicenter there near Sumatra -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Really amazing pictures.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Hey, we have a geologist on the phone, David Booth.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: And we wanted to ask him about the warning that went out that there were more tsunamis coming for that part of the world. It caused widespread panic, as we've been showing you. People started running through the streets. And we're wondering how that could have happened.

So, David, maybe you can help us out with that.

DAVID BOOTH, BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY: Well at this point in time, it's not clear exactly why this one originated, because any one tsunami would certainly been picked up by the Pacific warning system, as they did on Boxing Day. And any warning would be instantly acted on. And I'm sure there's been no aftershocks so far of magnitudes large enough to cause a tsunami. So I'm not really sure why this warning originated.

COSTELLO: Chad, you were checking out the U.S. geological survey, what did you find?

MYERS: Yes. Well we've had almost 50 aftershocks above 5.0 magnitude. One of the aftershocks was actually 7.3. So my question is, where is the threshold of a tsunami creating earthquake? Is there a number where you say that was an 8.5 we better watch out or is it earthquake to earthquake specific?

BOOTH: Well I would say that a magnitude above like 7.5 would be cause for concern. But even at that high magnitude, the tsunami which would be created would be relatively small or much smaller than the one which devastated the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day.

Once you get to the really great aspects of the size of the 1964 Lost Earthquake (ph) or the 1960 Chile earthquake or the one which we just had, that's the occasion for real concern. But really remember that the Richter Scale is a (UNINTELLIGIBLE). One point on the Richter Scale is a 10-fold increase in wave (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

MYERS: Right.

BOOTH: ... increase of energy.

COSTELLO: Well, David, I'm wondering, what is the probability that another tsunami will strike that part of the world?

BOOTH: Well it will certainly happen at some time in the future. But at the present state of knowledge, it's really impossible to determine when. These really great earthquakes only happen with (UNINTELLIGIBLE) every few hundred years. And sometimes such earthquakes may occur in pairs or even in triplets so that a magnitude 9.0 earthquake could be the least bit -- the equivalence test could be released in the future by a succession of much smaller magnitude earthquakes which don't cause tsunamis. It's really impossible at the present state of knowledge to determine exactly where and when a really large earthquake will strike.

MYERS: Does it have anything to do with the full moon? That was a full moon night.

BOOTH: Well it's interesting you say that, because the house (ph) definitely be insured (ph) a correlation between the presence of your sudden thrust (ph) earthquakes and the correlation of the sun and moon so that we can't -- certainly not rule that out. But this earthquake was just -- it was ready to happen. And it's impossible to determine just, you know, exactly, you know, what triggered, you know, the final motion.

COSTELLO: David Booth, a British geologist, joining us from Scotland this morning. Thanks for being on DAYBREAK.

After the onslaught from the sea, tsunami survivors now face another threat, a breeding ground for disease. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will have more on the race to prevent more deaths.

You are watching DAYBREAK for a Thursday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Survivors of the tsunamis may not have seen the worst of it yet. An official at the World Health Organization says the spread of disease could double the death toll.

We get more on the dangers of disease from CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta who is in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo.

122901CN.V73

COSTELLO: For more on tsunami relief, go to CNN.com. You'll find information on the effort to provide clean drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by this disaster.

DAYBREAK will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We have an updated death toll from that area of Asia hit hard by the tsunamis. Now between 82,000 and 87,000 people are reportedly dead.

As you know, the United States is sending $35 million to help with the aid relief efforts and more will probably be coming along the way. But at one time, the United States was called stingy for not sending enough money.

So our e-mail question this morning, do you think the United States is doing enough? And we've had plenty of e-mail this morning, Chad, some 400 people e-mailing us.

MYERS: You know people are not very happy with the Oil-For-Food program disaster. And they are actually blaming that on why we shouldn't be sending more money, because they think that money, if we give it to the U.N., is just going to be wasted. This is going to be a black eye for a long time, I'm afraid.

I feel the U.S. is doing what it can, the tsunami disaster victims. That U.N. spokesman said U.S. was being stingy has a lot of nerve. He helped steal billions from the U.S. in the Iraq Oil-For- Food scandal. They really have a lot of nerve telling us we're stingy. That's from Mike in Houston, Texas -- Carol.

COSTELLO: This is from Jeff (ph). He says I think the United States is doing plenty. I don't recall any other country coming to Florida's aid after the hurricanes. As a matter of fact, I can't remember anyone ever coming to the aid of the United States.

But just to put this into perspective, 87,000 could be dead in South Asia.

MYERS: Sure.

COSTELLO: During the hurricanes, and I'm not diminishing any deaths, I don't want to do that, but 173 people died in that and $1.3 billion in aid went there.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: We're going to read a lot more e-mails in the next hour of DAYBREAK and that begins right now.

India doesn't want to get caught by surprise again, but its warnings of another tsunami led to panic throughout the region this morning.

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 30, 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: Here's what's all new in the next half-hour of DAYBREAK.
You heard David say that a tsunami warning causes widespread panic as displaced residents scramble for higher ground. We'll get the latest in a live report from the region.

Plus, ham radio to the rescue. We'll show you how Asian amateurs are bridging the communications gap.

And a reminder, our e-mail Question of the Day, tsunami relief: is the United States doing enough? We want to hear from you this morning. The address DAYBREAK@CNN.com. That's DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.

Now in the News.

Warnings of new tsunamis spread across devastated areas of South Asia this morning, but they were false alarms. The warnings, including one issued by India's government, were based on reports of new earthquakes, but monitors say there was no seismic activity.

The FBI is out with a new bulletin giving details of al Qaeda surveillance activities here in the United States. But the bulletin says there's nothing to indicate al Qaeda has moved into an operational stage for an attack.

A bond hearing is scheduled today in Missouri for Lisa Montgomery. She's accused of killing a pregnant woman and taking the baby from her womb. Montgomery is charged with kidnapping resulting in murder.

CNN has learned that during the past four days laser beams have illuminated the cockpits of six commercial airliners approaching U.S. airports. A government official says none of the flights were affected. The government warned last month that terrorists might use lasers to try to blind pilots.

To the Forecast Center now and Chad.

Good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol. I got three lasers for Christmas.

COSTELLO: Did you really?

MYERS: Yes, one that measures distance from wall to wall and another one that goes vertical, another one that goes horizontal. You see them on the commercials all the time, you know, you want to hang your pictures straight, well get our laser. So you know hopefully this is just some kids clowning around. But I got lasered in my car this morning, but I was only doing 64 so I didn't get pulled over. That's the good news.

COSTELLO: Sixty-four was the speed limit?

MYERS: Yes, 65 actually. I was going one under. He probably looked at his watch, went holy cow there's one guy that's not speeding. I better pull him over see what's going on.

Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: A new tsunami alert issued by India's government was heard on radio this morning across the area devastated by last weekend's killer waves. And the warning caused considerable alarm in many parts of South Asia and it turned out to be a false alarm.

CNN's Aneesh Raman is in the resort city of Phuket in Thailand.

Hello.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.

The death toll here now rising to just under 2,000 and it is far from finished. Thousands remain missing. And as we go forward, as each day passes, the largest number of those is presumed dead.

A new video is now surfacing, as it seems to everyday, given that this was a wide number of tourists here, dramatic video of the destructive waves that consumed Thailand's southern coast. These video, you know it gives everyone in the world a stark glimpse into what these people were going through but fails to capture the exact shock that they encountered as these enormous walls of water came at them.

Carol, we just came back from the relief center in Phuket. It's really the heart of the relief efforts in the entire region. There a surreal aspect in this one walkway. On one side, a wall of hope, if you will, pictures of those that are missing, made by their family members. All nationalities represented. One German 5-year-old boy's picture was there. His mother's number underneath. Next to that an American man that was missing. His friend's phone number. People desperately looking to find their displaced relatives.

But just across that walkway, pictures of the dead posted for identification purposes so that relatives can try and find closure.

But, Carol, as we go further on, the bodies that are being found are now becoming beyond -- they can't identify them, they've just composed so much. The relatives of those victims will not even get that closure.

There are thousands of Thais who have come from all over this country to help in this effort. It's been a remarkable outpouring of support. Those that speak foreign languages especially have come to help translate. And it really has shown to be an inherent aspect of this culture, Carol, compassion in this time of crisis.

COSTELLO: Aneesh Raman, Phuket, Thailand, reporting live this morning. Thank you.

You know it has been so difficult to get any information about the areas hit hard by those tsunamis. You heard Aneesh just say that. No phone lines, few cells available for cell phones. Well to the rescue, ham radio operators. They're at work in Thailand reuniting families and reporting news of damage back home.

By coincidence, some members of the National Institute of Amateur Radio were meeting on Andaman Island for a conference. Well the mission changed once the earthquake struck. Now members have taken their equipment and spread out to help.

Live from Bangkok, Thailand, the man coordinating the effort by ham radio operators, Charlie Harpole.

Good morning -- Charlie.

CHARLES HARPOLE, HAM RADIO OPERATOR: Hi there. How are you?

COSTELLO: I'm fine. Thank you for joining us.

Tell us how this works. You get requests from the Red Cross and then you send them out to ham radio operators throughout Asia to see if they can find information. What happens next?

HARPOLE: Well the individual ham radio operators that receive the requests for identification and health and welfare of missing people, they then dispatch other ham radio operators either in a car or on foot to search out these missing folks. And then the success stories, of course, they find someone and discover that they're OK and relay back then through the ham radio network to the original ham radio sender and report your relative is OK and is happy to hear from you.

COSTELLO: Just so amazing, Charlie. I want to bring in Chad Myers, because he's an amateur ham radio buff himself.

Chad, go ahead. MYERS: Charles, I'm interested about the skip (ph), as they call it, or about how far the signal can actually go before it has to be, let's say, translated by somebody else and sent again and then sent again. How far can your signal go around the globe before it has to be picked up by somebody and then sent again and then again and then again, like we have to do with satellites?

HARPOLE: Well actually the frequencies that -- the radio bands that ham radio are assigned, there are a few of those bands that are worldwide,...

MYERS: Wow!

HARPOLE: ... so that particularly in the dawn or dusk periods...

MYERS: Sure.

HARPOLE: ... you can transmit around the world with clear voice signals or by telegraphy or even there are some stations that use a form of television or radio teletype.

MYERS: Are you having any difficulties with language barriers?

HARPOLE: Well, yes, of course. There are how many, I suppose hundreds of languages within the realm of the Indian Ocean in the affected area, and that is a problem. But fortunately, in the area of ham radio at least, English has become virtually standard worldwide. And thus it's very handy that we all have this, more or less, common language. And of course those who speak Hindi or some other domestic local language also have English and they can use English by short wave radio.

COSTELLO: Charlie, tell us some of the reunion stories before you have to go.

HARPOLE: Well one of the very first ones occurred on Andaman Island that I witnessed. We woke up pretty much to the earthquake there on Andaman and the city of Port Blair at a hotel. And the hotel was swaying and swinging, and we all -- every resident and the staff ran out of the hotel.

Then as soon as things calmed down, we sneaked back in carefully and grabbed our radio equipment. Brought it outside where it would be safe, where we would be safe away from the possibility of a building falling and set up the radio. Hooked it to the generator for electricity that was supplies by the hotel and set up the portable antenna and established contact between Port Blair, the city on the Andaman Island there in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

We established radio contact, two-way voice contact between our station and a station in Hyderabad, India. Well luck would have it, one of the waiters from the hotel, who happened to be standing by, said my mother is in Hyderabad, could you possibly take her phone number and tell her I'm OK? So of course we passed that message right away to a ham radio station in Hyderabad, India. He took down the phone number, made the phone call, and within five minutes was able to come back on the radio and say your mom is very relieved that her son working there as a waiter is OK. And we were all of course applauding and happy that we could serve so well and so quickly.

COSTELLO: Well, Charlie, we're happy...

HARPOLE: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... you're there helping out there. And thank you for your wonderful stories this morning.

Charlie Harpole joining us live from Bangkok, Thailand.

When the earth's plates move there is nothing anyone can do but try to understand. Ahead, the science behind earthquakes.

And disease threatens to kill thousands in a region that has seen more than its share of death. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a closer look at the new danger lurking in the chaos.

And our e-mail Question of the Morning, tsunami relief: is the United States doing enough? Let us know what you think, DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:45 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

Six months before a scandal at the Air Force Academy became public an anonymous letter told top Air Force officials that female cadets were being raped at the institution. The letter dated June 28, 2002 was released by the Pentagon's inspector general.

In money news, McDonald's Corporation is considering requiring its chicken suppliers to use more humane slaughter methods. People for the Ethical Treatment for Animals claims some chickens are now scalded to death.

In culture, the past two years more than 1,200 schools have stopped serving children milk in paper cartons. School officials say when the milk is in plastic bottles more kids drink it.

In sports, Cleveland's LeBron James collided with Houston's Dikembe Mutombo and left the game in the first half. James suffered a bruised bone in his face. Houston won the game.

And, Chad, in parts of the Indian Ocean, entire islands were swept under by the tsunamis. I understand you have some new satellite pictures to show us.

MYERS: You know we do. It's kind of ironic at where this entire tsunami went. It went in two different directions, one east and one west. And it depends on where the island was with the tsunami or close to the earthquake.

This is actually Trinkat Island and the before and the after picture. The before picture taken on the 21st of December where you can see there's one island. And then after, there are actually two islands. Similar to what happened down into parts of Florida during the hurricanes when islands were literally cut in half because of the water surging in.

Now I'm not sure whether the water receded and that isthmus, if you will, that middle part of the island actually came back into view or not. But clearly when the water was over that island, it swept everything from one side of the island completely out to sea on the other side of the island. And this happened a lot to a lot of those small little islands. Some of them with populations of over 100,000 water completely washing over the entire island. That was very close to the epicenter there near Sumatra -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Really amazing pictures.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Hey, we have a geologist on the phone, David Booth.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: And we wanted to ask him about the warning that went out that there were more tsunamis coming for that part of the world. It caused widespread panic, as we've been showing you. People started running through the streets. And we're wondering how that could have happened.

So, David, maybe you can help us out with that.

DAVID BOOTH, BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY: Well at this point in time, it's not clear exactly why this one originated, because any one tsunami would certainly been picked up by the Pacific warning system, as they did on Boxing Day. And any warning would be instantly acted on. And I'm sure there's been no aftershocks so far of magnitudes large enough to cause a tsunami. So I'm not really sure why this warning originated.

COSTELLO: Chad, you were checking out the U.S. geological survey, what did you find?

MYERS: Yes. Well we've had almost 50 aftershocks above 5.0 magnitude. One of the aftershocks was actually 7.3. So my question is, where is the threshold of a tsunami creating earthquake? Is there a number where you say that was an 8.5 we better watch out or is it earthquake to earthquake specific?

BOOTH: Well I would say that a magnitude above like 7.5 would be cause for concern. But even at that high magnitude, the tsunami which would be created would be relatively small or much smaller than the one which devastated the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day.

Once you get to the really great aspects of the size of the 1964 Lost Earthquake (ph) or the 1960 Chile earthquake or the one which we just had, that's the occasion for real concern. But really remember that the Richter Scale is a (UNINTELLIGIBLE). One point on the Richter Scale is a 10-fold increase in wave (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

MYERS: Right.

BOOTH: ... increase of energy.

COSTELLO: Well, David, I'm wondering, what is the probability that another tsunami will strike that part of the world?

BOOTH: Well it will certainly happen at some time in the future. But at the present state of knowledge, it's really impossible to determine when. These really great earthquakes only happen with (UNINTELLIGIBLE) every few hundred years. And sometimes such earthquakes may occur in pairs or even in triplets so that a magnitude 9.0 earthquake could be the least bit -- the equivalence test could be released in the future by a succession of much smaller magnitude earthquakes which don't cause tsunamis. It's really impossible at the present state of knowledge to determine exactly where and when a really large earthquake will strike.

MYERS: Does it have anything to do with the full moon? That was a full moon night.

BOOTH: Well it's interesting you say that, because the house (ph) definitely be insured (ph) a correlation between the presence of your sudden thrust (ph) earthquakes and the correlation of the sun and moon so that we can't -- certainly not rule that out. But this earthquake was just -- it was ready to happen. And it's impossible to determine just, you know, exactly, you know, what triggered, you know, the final motion.

COSTELLO: David Booth, a British geologist, joining us from Scotland this morning. Thanks for being on DAYBREAK.

After the onslaught from the sea, tsunami survivors now face another threat, a breeding ground for disease. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will have more on the race to prevent more deaths.

You are watching DAYBREAK for a Thursday.

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COSTELLO: Survivors of the tsunamis may not have seen the worst of it yet. An official at the World Health Organization says the spread of disease could double the death toll.

We get more on the dangers of disease from CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta who is in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo.

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COSTELLO: For more on tsunami relief, go to CNN.com. You'll find information on the effort to provide clean drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by this disaster.

DAYBREAK will be right back.

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COSTELLO: We have an updated death toll from that area of Asia hit hard by the tsunamis. Now between 82,000 and 87,000 people are reportedly dead.

As you know, the United States is sending $35 million to help with the aid relief efforts and more will probably be coming along the way. But at one time, the United States was called stingy for not sending enough money.

So our e-mail question this morning, do you think the United States is doing enough? And we've had plenty of e-mail this morning, Chad, some 400 people e-mailing us.

MYERS: You know people are not very happy with the Oil-For-Food program disaster. And they are actually blaming that on why we shouldn't be sending more money, because they think that money, if we give it to the U.N., is just going to be wasted. This is going to be a black eye for a long time, I'm afraid.

I feel the U.S. is doing what it can, the tsunami disaster victims. That U.N. spokesman said U.S. was being stingy has a lot of nerve. He helped steal billions from the U.S. in the Iraq Oil-For- Food scandal. They really have a lot of nerve telling us we're stingy. That's from Mike in Houston, Texas -- Carol.

COSTELLO: This is from Jeff (ph). He says I think the United States is doing plenty. I don't recall any other country coming to Florida's aid after the hurricanes. As a matter of fact, I can't remember anyone ever coming to the aid of the United States.

But just to put this into perspective, 87,000 could be dead in South Asia.

MYERS: Sure.

COSTELLO: During the hurricanes, and I'm not diminishing any deaths, I don't want to do that, but 173 people died in that and $1.3 billion in aid went there.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: We're going to read a lot more e-mails in the next hour of DAYBREAK and that begins right now.

India doesn't want to get caught by surprise again, but its warnings of another tsunami led to panic throughout the region this morning.

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