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CNN Live At Daybreak

A Child's Story; Fight for Iraq; Saving the Children; Children of the Storm

Aired January 06, 2005 - 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: And good morning to you, from the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
Here are the latest developments in the South Asia tsunami disaster.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says $1 billion is needed now to save the lives of people who survived the tsunamis.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says tsunami relief is not a short-term, feel-good project. After visiting a refugee camp in Sri Lanka, Frist says it will take mid-term and long-term funding to rebuild shattered South Asian communities.

Sixteen Americans now confirmed dead in the South Asian tsunami and 20 more are missing and presumed dead. Sixty Germans and 52 Swedes are also dead, confirmed dead, I should say.

The White House says President Bush has personally contributed $10,000 for tsunami relief in South Asia. Press Secretary Scott McClellan says the checks have been mailed to organizations listed on the USA Freedom Corps Web site.

To the Forecast Center now and Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, thanks for the warning -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: On the tsunami-damaged Thai island of Phuket, the first steps are being taken to rebuild homes and businesses. The more daunting, long-term project is rebuilding lives, especially young lives.

CNN's Aneesh Raman reports on one child who has seen too much during the past 11 days.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Do not let the image fool you. Amidst this innocent scene of children back at school, smiling and playing, the horrors of last week lurk quietly everywhere.

Like others today, 9-year-old Panutna (ph), surrounded by friends, tells her tale of what took place.

PANUTNA, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR (through translator): I was sleeping. My aunt (ph) knocked my door. I didn't get up. Then she kicked my door. I got up and packed (ph) with my mother and father and run out to the hill. The water was still coming, so we had to go even higher up. Water everywhere.

RAMAN: Her father (ph) was then thrown by the waves. As she speaks of that, translation can do no justice to a little girl's pain.

PANUTNA (through translator): Nanny Polo (ph) died.

RAMAN: What these eyes have seen, what the effects will be on a child's mind is nothing short of profound. Panutna, not even a teenager, already speaks of death with resignation.

PANUTNA (through translator): If I die, at least I die once.

RAMAN: But she is lucky, Panutna and her family survived. In her classroom, empty seats with those children yet to return. Their absence today is ominous.

(on camera): Panutna's story is this island's story. The pain of what took place still so real, so fresh. But even for these children picking up school books left out to dry, the need to rebuild cannot be ignored.

(voice-over): A new roof for a house destroyed. Panutna's father trying to provide a glimmer of hope that perhaps things can and will get better. Yet the most troubling question is the one she cannot answer, the one that she avoids, why this happened.

PANUTNA: I don't know.

RAMAN: Amidst friends, overcoming such an ordeal seems possible for Panutna. But as she walks home alone, there is no way to know the images playing in her mind, the emotions brewing.

For children all across this region, digesting the hellish enormity of this disaster could be impossible.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Phuket, southern Thailand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And CNN looks deeper into the effects of this disaster of the young. Our prime time special, "SAVING THE CHILDREN," airs tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Today is Army Day in Iraq. It's also 24 days until Iraqis go to the polls. The attempts to intimidate would-be voters and derail the vote continues to ratchet up.

Our senior international editor David Clinch joins us now from Atlanta with more details on this.

And the violence has been heightened in the past several days -- David.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Absolutely. And as predicted, the U.S. military and the Iraqis have been predicting that the violence, the level of violence, against, in particular, the Iraqi security forces will increase.

A lot of these different strands and the story in Iraq are coming together now as we just get a few weeks away from the elections in Iraq at the end of the month. The question of whether the Iraqi forces will be in place to guard these polling stations in Iraq. The U.S. military making it clear that they won't be guarding the polling stations. It's not their election, they say, it's the Iraqi's elections and the Iraqis will need to be in place to guard the stations.

Many of them aren't even trained yet. We're going to see Army Day today. Tens of thousands more are expected to graduate over the next few weeks, but just graduating doesn't mean that they'll be able to do the job, of course.

COSTELLO: But there will also be more American troops patrolling the streets, especially on election day. I heard the figure 35,000.

CLINCH: That's right, 35,000 in the Baghdad area alone. And the U.S. military making it very clear. We heard from General Meps (ph) today, one of the senior military commanders in the region, that his forces will be ready to respond to anything that might happen in and around election time.

But again, as he's making clear, from their point of view, this is the beginning of the process, the elections, the beginning of the process of the Iraqis taking over their own country. And he wants to see the Iraqi forces guarding those polling stations and taking on the role. In his words, the Iraqis who are fighting for freedom, that is the security forces, will quash the thugs, and that's the militants, of course.

And the elections will, as we of course all know, will be the first really serious testing ground of that theory. But the Iraqis can take over security in a meaningful way to get, not just those 35,000, but the 150,000 American troops out of Iraq slowly but surely after this election.

COSTELLO: OK, a final question for you. The interim Iraqi president is saying maybe the election should be postponed, but the interim prime minister is saying no, the elections will take place on January 30. Who has the final say, is it the interim Iraqi government, is it the United Nations, is it the United States?

CLINCH: Technically speaking, it's the Iraqi government. But of course if they were to do that, they would have to do it in coordination with the U.S. and the U.N. It's not going to happen. The Iraqis have now, Iyad Allawi, the Prime Minister, has made it clear. And the President Yawar, who made that comment, had a very interesting conversation on the phone with President Bush after he made that comment. President Bush making it absolutely clear any delay was not a good idea from his point of view.

COSTELLO: David Clinch, live in Atlanta, thank you.

CLINCH: All right.

COSTELLO: The lives of children have been ripped apart by the tsunami crisis, orphaned and alone. We'll tell you why the world's most precious gifts are in desperate need of protection.

And later, be careful when playing around with a laser in your backyard, could bring the FBI to your front door.

And our e-mail "Question of the Morning," Patriot Act: is it time to review it? We'll read some of your e-mails a little later.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: How do you tell a child that mommy and daddy are never coming home, or for that matter, how do you explain to them that home no longer exists? These are the emotional obstacles children in Asia are facing as they try to survive in refugee camps as orphans.

Dan Rivers of Britain's ITV has more on the new reality facing the tsunami's youngest victims.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, ITV REPORTER (voice-over): The village of Lampia (ph) doesn't exist anymore, three-quarters of its residents are dead. Only a few coconut trees remain standing. They now provide shade for 1,200 refugees, among them, Rafika (ph), 4.5 years old and now an orphan.

A distant cousin is caring for her, but she asks for her mother. She doesn't cry, she just watches and waits, quiet, numb. She doesn't understand what's happening.

The children here aren't starving, they have food for two days. But time goes slowly when you're alone, when your family is just a memory.

(on camera): Every tent you visit here has a harrowing story of loss and grief. Everyone here has suffered unimaginable trauma, but none more so than the children who have lost their parents. (voice-over): These children are from another camp nearby, all are orphans.

Siam (ph) is 11. When the tsunami hit, he and his family were swept away, but somehow he survived.

But aid workers are warning these children may still be in danger.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you're desperate, you turn to desperate means and it leaves them very vulnerable to all sorts of dangers, such as trafficking. And that's why it's critical that we identify them as soon as possible and give them a safe place to stay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But our concern here, is, yes, the exploitation. It isn't just adoption, it is whether these children, frankly, turn into child slaves, if you will, or, you know, abused and exploited.

RIVERS: It's difficult for them to talk about what's happened. Agusta (ph) is 13. His mother, father and two younger brothers are now dead. He only survived by clinging to a football which buoyed him to the surface of the tsunami. His pain is raw. His loneliness is overwhelming.

Dan Rivers, ITV News, Aceh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Want to talk more about this now. Richard Mawer is with the organization Save the Children. He joins us now live from London.

Good morning.

RICHARD MAWER, SAVE THE CHILDREN: Good morning.

COSTELLO: First of all, tell us, are there any confirmed cases of child kidnappings?

MAWER: We certainly haven't got any confirmed cases reported to us. We have no evidence of this, but obviously we're very concerned about the situation, particularly in Indonesia. Because what we're well aware of is that children, once they become separated from their families or orphaned, are particularly vulnerable to a whole range of abuse and exploitation.

COSTELLO: How are you protecting them?

MAWER: Well the best way to protect children is to keep them within their extended families and within their communities. This protects them from any sexual predators, from being abducted. This protects them from being taken off into orphanages, which gives them a very uncertain future. In addition, it's actually staying with their extended family in their communities that helps them to take those initial steps to get back towards normalcy, to help them to get over the incredible trauma they must have suffered over the last week or so.

COSTELLO: I guess one of the hardest aspects, though, is to find that extended family, because many children have been separated even from their extended families.

MAWER: Yes. And Save the Children has considerable experience in working to identify unaccompanied children and to reunite them with either their families if they are still alive or back into their extended family. We've been working on these kind of issues from Rwanda to Liberia, and now we've been invited by the governments of Indonesia and Sri Lanka to go and help them set up databases that will help this in the long term.

What it involves in the immediate is actually registering all the unaccompanied children, taking photographs of them and making this widely available. Because what you have to remember is that for every unaccompanied child who is in shock and trauma, if the parents are alive, you have a very shocked and traumatized parent who is desperately looking for their children.

So it's finding ways to putting these two together as rapidly as possible that can reunite these families. That's our initial priority, but then have the longer-term systems in place. For example, for children who have been medivaced out of the Aceh region into Jakarta, often without the documentation necessary. We need to now register those so we can put them back in contact with their families as soon as possible.

COSTELLO: You talk about the psychological trauma. What kind of behaviors are the children exhibiting that are most affected?

MAWER: I think a lot of children will go into withdrawal, if you like. I've heard of cases of children who haven't spoken for days. And this is why one of the things that we in Save the Children try and set up as rapidly as possible are recreational areas, educational areas where children can have those first steps back into normalcy, back into play, back into activities, such as drawing, but interacting in a much more normal way with other children. Because it is these first small steps into normalcy that helps them get over their major traumas.

COSTELLO: Richard Mawer with Save the Children joining us live from London this morning. Thank you.

A family that made it through the tsunami together, they are the lucky ones, but they are not without problems. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at the family's mental health after their ordeal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Many families were ripped apart when the waves hit, many children were lost, others orphaned.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta found one family, though, who made it through the horror, at least physically in tact.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's not surprising that 12-year-old Dushara Naomi (ph) and 5-year-old Madra (ph) both wake up screaming at night.

N. PREMADAFA DE SILVA, FATHER: When she goes to sleep, she asks whether the tsunami will also come to this place. Several times throughout the night she wakes from sleep and shouts. She has nightmares.

GUPTA: The two girls, along with their mother, ran for high ground as the tsunami wrapped itself around their country. Their father found them here, five kilometers from their home. Even though they are in a displacement camp now, most would consider the De Silva family lucky, everyone in their family survived. But more than a week later, it's abundantly clear that it's not just the physical but the psychological damage that is of major concern.

N. DE SILVA (through translator): As a man, I can bear it. But for my girls, I am doubtful that they can handle it, so I don't show my fear to my wife and my children for their own sake.

GUPTA: As their father hides doubts of their recovery, the mother does what she can to shield them from traumatic memories.

KUMARI KAJAKARUNA DE SILVA, MOTHER (through translator): I'm in a difficult situation. I don't like to talk to my daughters about it, because I know that with the help of these teachers and music class they will soon come through a certain level of understanding. That is why I don't want to remind them again.

GUPTA: In a country where you'll be hard pressed to find a psychologist or counselor to deal with these emotions, music therapy seems to make a difference for the De Silva children.

IROHANLE GUNAWARDHANE, MUSIC TEACHER (through translator): These children have lost their teachers, schools, books and everything. Music activities will help them stay focused on their education. Also, these children show some abnormal behavior, such as loneliness, depression and stress. By doing music, maybe they can forget these things and enjoy life.

GUPTA: As Irohanle teaches the children patriotic songs of ancestors who also overcame adversity, they join the countless generations who have used music to sway emotion and to sway fear.

As they sing, you can almost see the nightmares disappear, even if it's just for a little while.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: To find out how you can donate to the tsunami victims, get updates on relief efforts or anything else, log on to our special Web site, CNN.com/quake. Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales goes before the Senate Judiciary Committee today. New in the next hour of DAYBREAK, a preview of what he will face. He's going to face some tough questions. We'll talk with our congressional correspondent about that.

Also new in the next hour, Satellite Radio, what's the deal. Our Ali Velshi will look at whether or not it's worth tuning in or investing in. You are watching DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A New Jersey man is facing 25 years in prison for shining a laser at a passing jet and also a helicopter. David Banach says he was just playing around with a laser in his backyard with his daughter. He's been charged under the Patriot Act, even though the FBI says there is no link to terrorism. His attorney says he's being made into a sacrificial lamb.

Well we wanted to know what you thought about this, the Patriot Act, is it time to review it, if, you know, you could be charged under this even though the allegations against you have nothing to do whatsoever with terrorism. And we've gotten a lot of e-mails in this morning -- Chad.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: You have some?

MYERS: I have one here from J.J. (ph) in Atlanta. If some drunk airline passenger gets into an altercation with a flight attendant and they go to jail for 10 years for interfering with a flight, don't you think 25 years is not unreasonable for something as dangerous as shining a laser into a cockpit and blinding the pilot?

COSTELLO: Point taken.

This is from Pam from Seattle. If aiming a laser in an airplane more than once, endangering passengers and crew is not terrorism, what should he be charged with, being stupid? Let's get the facts before we start yelling about the Patriot Act.

But remember the FBI says it was not terrorism.

This is from Bob. Should the Patriot Act be reviewed constantly and frequently? As Ben Franklin once observed, those who would trade liberty for security deserve neither.

MYERS: It's time to review the Patriot Act, according to Kevin (ph) from Raleigh. Sending that guy for 25 years to prison is wrong. I think he learned his lesson and get a big, big fine but probably not go to prison. Every American that does something wrong is he or she going to be charged under the Patriot Act? I'm sure that guy was not doing anybody any harm.

Sure it could happen. COSTELLO: Yes, you're not kidding.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: We're going to talk much more about this in the next hour of DAYBREAK, which begins right now.

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 January 6, 2005 - 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: And good morning to you, from the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
Here are the latest developments in the South Asia tsunami disaster.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says $1 billion is needed now to save the lives of people who survived the tsunamis.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says tsunami relief is not a short-term, feel-good project. After visiting a refugee camp in Sri Lanka, Frist says it will take mid-term and long-term funding to rebuild shattered South Asian communities.

Sixteen Americans now confirmed dead in the South Asian tsunami and 20 more are missing and presumed dead. Sixty Germans and 52 Swedes are also dead, confirmed dead, I should say.

The White House says President Bush has personally contributed $10,000 for tsunami relief in South Asia. Press Secretary Scott McClellan says the checks have been mailed to organizations listed on the USA Freedom Corps Web site.

To the Forecast Center now and Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, thanks for the warning -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: On the tsunami-damaged Thai island of Phuket, the first steps are being taken to rebuild homes and businesses. The more daunting, long-term project is rebuilding lives, especially young lives.

CNN's Aneesh Raman reports on one child who has seen too much during the past 11 days.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Do not let the image fool you. Amidst this innocent scene of children back at school, smiling and playing, the horrors of last week lurk quietly everywhere.

Like others today, 9-year-old Panutna (ph), surrounded by friends, tells her tale of what took place.

PANUTNA, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR (through translator): I was sleeping. My aunt (ph) knocked my door. I didn't get up. Then she kicked my door. I got up and packed (ph) with my mother and father and run out to the hill. The water was still coming, so we had to go even higher up. Water everywhere.

RAMAN: Her father (ph) was then thrown by the waves. As she speaks of that, translation can do no justice to a little girl's pain.

PANUTNA (through translator): Nanny Polo (ph) died.

RAMAN: What these eyes have seen, what the effects will be on a child's mind is nothing short of profound. Panutna, not even a teenager, already speaks of death with resignation.

PANUTNA (through translator): If I die, at least I die once.

RAMAN: But she is lucky, Panutna and her family survived. In her classroom, empty seats with those children yet to return. Their absence today is ominous.

(on camera): Panutna's story is this island's story. The pain of what took place still so real, so fresh. But even for these children picking up school books left out to dry, the need to rebuild cannot be ignored.

(voice-over): A new roof for a house destroyed. Panutna's father trying to provide a glimmer of hope that perhaps things can and will get better. Yet the most troubling question is the one she cannot answer, the one that she avoids, why this happened.

PANUTNA: I don't know.

RAMAN: Amidst friends, overcoming such an ordeal seems possible for Panutna. But as she walks home alone, there is no way to know the images playing in her mind, the emotions brewing.

For children all across this region, digesting the hellish enormity of this disaster could be impossible.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Phuket, southern Thailand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And CNN looks deeper into the effects of this disaster of the young. Our prime time special, "SAVING THE CHILDREN," airs tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Today is Army Day in Iraq. It's also 24 days until Iraqis go to the polls. The attempts to intimidate would-be voters and derail the vote continues to ratchet up.

Our senior international editor David Clinch joins us now from Atlanta with more details on this.

And the violence has been heightened in the past several days -- David.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Absolutely. And as predicted, the U.S. military and the Iraqis have been predicting that the violence, the level of violence, against, in particular, the Iraqi security forces will increase.

A lot of these different strands and the story in Iraq are coming together now as we just get a few weeks away from the elections in Iraq at the end of the month. The question of whether the Iraqi forces will be in place to guard these polling stations in Iraq. The U.S. military making it clear that they won't be guarding the polling stations. It's not their election, they say, it's the Iraqi's elections and the Iraqis will need to be in place to guard the stations.

Many of them aren't even trained yet. We're going to see Army Day today. Tens of thousands more are expected to graduate over the next few weeks, but just graduating doesn't mean that they'll be able to do the job, of course.

COSTELLO: But there will also be more American troops patrolling the streets, especially on election day. I heard the figure 35,000.

CLINCH: That's right, 35,000 in the Baghdad area alone. And the U.S. military making it very clear. We heard from General Meps (ph) today, one of the senior military commanders in the region, that his forces will be ready to respond to anything that might happen in and around election time.

But again, as he's making clear, from their point of view, this is the beginning of the process, the elections, the beginning of the process of the Iraqis taking over their own country. And he wants to see the Iraqi forces guarding those polling stations and taking on the role. In his words, the Iraqis who are fighting for freedom, that is the security forces, will quash the thugs, and that's the militants, of course.

And the elections will, as we of course all know, will be the first really serious testing ground of that theory. But the Iraqis can take over security in a meaningful way to get, not just those 35,000, but the 150,000 American troops out of Iraq slowly but surely after this election.

COSTELLO: OK, a final question for you. The interim Iraqi president is saying maybe the election should be postponed, but the interim prime minister is saying no, the elections will take place on January 30. Who has the final say, is it the interim Iraqi government, is it the United Nations, is it the United States?

CLINCH: Technically speaking, it's the Iraqi government. But of course if they were to do that, they would have to do it in coordination with the U.S. and the U.N. It's not going to happen. The Iraqis have now, Iyad Allawi, the Prime Minister, has made it clear. And the President Yawar, who made that comment, had a very interesting conversation on the phone with President Bush after he made that comment. President Bush making it absolutely clear any delay was not a good idea from his point of view.

COSTELLO: David Clinch, live in Atlanta, thank you.

CLINCH: All right.

COSTELLO: The lives of children have been ripped apart by the tsunami crisis, orphaned and alone. We'll tell you why the world's most precious gifts are in desperate need of protection.

And later, be careful when playing around with a laser in your backyard, could bring the FBI to your front door.

And our e-mail "Question of the Morning," Patriot Act: is it time to review it? We'll read some of your e-mails a little later.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: How do you tell a child that mommy and daddy are never coming home, or for that matter, how do you explain to them that home no longer exists? These are the emotional obstacles children in Asia are facing as they try to survive in refugee camps as orphans.

Dan Rivers of Britain's ITV has more on the new reality facing the tsunami's youngest victims.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, ITV REPORTER (voice-over): The village of Lampia (ph) doesn't exist anymore, three-quarters of its residents are dead. Only a few coconut trees remain standing. They now provide shade for 1,200 refugees, among them, Rafika (ph), 4.5 years old and now an orphan.

A distant cousin is caring for her, but she asks for her mother. She doesn't cry, she just watches and waits, quiet, numb. She doesn't understand what's happening.

The children here aren't starving, they have food for two days. But time goes slowly when you're alone, when your family is just a memory.

(on camera): Every tent you visit here has a harrowing story of loss and grief. Everyone here has suffered unimaginable trauma, but none more so than the children who have lost their parents. (voice-over): These children are from another camp nearby, all are orphans.

Siam (ph) is 11. When the tsunami hit, he and his family were swept away, but somehow he survived.

But aid workers are warning these children may still be in danger.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you're desperate, you turn to desperate means and it leaves them very vulnerable to all sorts of dangers, such as trafficking. And that's why it's critical that we identify them as soon as possible and give them a safe place to stay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But our concern here, is, yes, the exploitation. It isn't just adoption, it is whether these children, frankly, turn into child slaves, if you will, or, you know, abused and exploited.

RIVERS: It's difficult for them to talk about what's happened. Agusta (ph) is 13. His mother, father and two younger brothers are now dead. He only survived by clinging to a football which buoyed him to the surface of the tsunami. His pain is raw. His loneliness is overwhelming.

Dan Rivers, ITV News, Aceh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Want to talk more about this now. Richard Mawer is with the organization Save the Children. He joins us now live from London.

Good morning.

RICHARD MAWER, SAVE THE CHILDREN: Good morning.

COSTELLO: First of all, tell us, are there any confirmed cases of child kidnappings?

MAWER: We certainly haven't got any confirmed cases reported to us. We have no evidence of this, but obviously we're very concerned about the situation, particularly in Indonesia. Because what we're well aware of is that children, once they become separated from their families or orphaned, are particularly vulnerable to a whole range of abuse and exploitation.

COSTELLO: How are you protecting them?

MAWER: Well the best way to protect children is to keep them within their extended families and within their communities. This protects them from any sexual predators, from being abducted. This protects them from being taken off into orphanages, which gives them a very uncertain future. In addition, it's actually staying with their extended family in their communities that helps them to take those initial steps to get back towards normalcy, to help them to get over the incredible trauma they must have suffered over the last week or so.

COSTELLO: I guess one of the hardest aspects, though, is to find that extended family, because many children have been separated even from their extended families.

MAWER: Yes. And Save the Children has considerable experience in working to identify unaccompanied children and to reunite them with either their families if they are still alive or back into their extended family. We've been working on these kind of issues from Rwanda to Liberia, and now we've been invited by the governments of Indonesia and Sri Lanka to go and help them set up databases that will help this in the long term.

What it involves in the immediate is actually registering all the unaccompanied children, taking photographs of them and making this widely available. Because what you have to remember is that for every unaccompanied child who is in shock and trauma, if the parents are alive, you have a very shocked and traumatized parent who is desperately looking for their children.

So it's finding ways to putting these two together as rapidly as possible that can reunite these families. That's our initial priority, but then have the longer-term systems in place. For example, for children who have been medivaced out of the Aceh region into Jakarta, often without the documentation necessary. We need to now register those so we can put them back in contact with their families as soon as possible.

COSTELLO: You talk about the psychological trauma. What kind of behaviors are the children exhibiting that are most affected?

MAWER: I think a lot of children will go into withdrawal, if you like. I've heard of cases of children who haven't spoken for days. And this is why one of the things that we in Save the Children try and set up as rapidly as possible are recreational areas, educational areas where children can have those first steps back into normalcy, back into play, back into activities, such as drawing, but interacting in a much more normal way with other children. Because it is these first small steps into normalcy that helps them get over their major traumas.

COSTELLO: Richard Mawer with Save the Children joining us live from London this morning. Thank you.

A family that made it through the tsunami together, they are the lucky ones, but they are not without problems. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at the family's mental health after their ordeal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Many families were ripped apart when the waves hit, many children were lost, others orphaned.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta found one family, though, who made it through the horror, at least physically in tact.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's not surprising that 12-year-old Dushara Naomi (ph) and 5-year-old Madra (ph) both wake up screaming at night.

N. PREMADAFA DE SILVA, FATHER: When she goes to sleep, she asks whether the tsunami will also come to this place. Several times throughout the night she wakes from sleep and shouts. She has nightmares.

GUPTA: The two girls, along with their mother, ran for high ground as the tsunami wrapped itself around their country. Their father found them here, five kilometers from their home. Even though they are in a displacement camp now, most would consider the De Silva family lucky, everyone in their family survived. But more than a week later, it's abundantly clear that it's not just the physical but the psychological damage that is of major concern.

N. DE SILVA (through translator): As a man, I can bear it. But for my girls, I am doubtful that they can handle it, so I don't show my fear to my wife and my children for their own sake.

GUPTA: As their father hides doubts of their recovery, the mother does what she can to shield them from traumatic memories.

KUMARI KAJAKARUNA DE SILVA, MOTHER (through translator): I'm in a difficult situation. I don't like to talk to my daughters about it, because I know that with the help of these teachers and music class they will soon come through a certain level of understanding. That is why I don't want to remind them again.

GUPTA: In a country where you'll be hard pressed to find a psychologist or counselor to deal with these emotions, music therapy seems to make a difference for the De Silva children.

IROHANLE GUNAWARDHANE, MUSIC TEACHER (through translator): These children have lost their teachers, schools, books and everything. Music activities will help them stay focused on their education. Also, these children show some abnormal behavior, such as loneliness, depression and stress. By doing music, maybe they can forget these things and enjoy life.

GUPTA: As Irohanle teaches the children patriotic songs of ancestors who also overcame adversity, they join the countless generations who have used music to sway emotion and to sway fear.

As they sing, you can almost see the nightmares disappear, even if it's just for a little while.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: To find out how you can donate to the tsunami victims, get updates on relief efforts or anything else, log on to our special Web site, CNN.com/quake. Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales goes before the Senate Judiciary Committee today. New in the next hour of DAYBREAK, a preview of what he will face. He's going to face some tough questions. We'll talk with our congressional correspondent about that.

Also new in the next hour, Satellite Radio, what's the deal. Our Ali Velshi will look at whether or not it's worth tuning in or investing in. You are watching DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A New Jersey man is facing 25 years in prison for shining a laser at a passing jet and also a helicopter. David Banach says he was just playing around with a laser in his backyard with his daughter. He's been charged under the Patriot Act, even though the FBI says there is no link to terrorism. His attorney says he's being made into a sacrificial lamb.

Well we wanted to know what you thought about this, the Patriot Act, is it time to review it, if, you know, you could be charged under this even though the allegations against you have nothing to do whatsoever with terrorism. And we've gotten a lot of e-mails in this morning -- Chad.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: You have some?

MYERS: I have one here from J.J. (ph) in Atlanta. If some drunk airline passenger gets into an altercation with a flight attendant and they go to jail for 10 years for interfering with a flight, don't you think 25 years is not unreasonable for something as dangerous as shining a laser into a cockpit and blinding the pilot?

COSTELLO: Point taken.

This is from Pam from Seattle. If aiming a laser in an airplane more than once, endangering passengers and crew is not terrorism, what should he be charged with, being stupid? Let's get the facts before we start yelling about the Patriot Act.

But remember the FBI says it was not terrorism.

This is from Bob. Should the Patriot Act be reviewed constantly and frequently? As Ben Franklin once observed, those who would trade liberty for security deserve neither.

MYERS: It's time to review the Patriot Act, according to Kevin (ph) from Raleigh. Sending that guy for 25 years to prison is wrong. I think he learned his lesson and get a big, big fine but probably not go to prison. Every American that does something wrong is he or she going to be charged under the Patriot Act? I'm sure that guy was not doing anybody any harm.

Sure it could happen. COSTELLO: Yes, you're not kidding.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: We're going to talk much more about this in the next hour of DAYBREAK, which begins right now.

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