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CNN LIVE SUNDAY

Pakistan Earthquake Claims 20,000 Lives

Aired October 9, 2005 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN ANCHOR, CNN LIVE SUNDAY: Friday and today as the likeliest times of potential attacks based on information that reportedly came from Iraq. Tens of thousands of people are to descend tonight on Yankee stadium for a postseason baseball game.
A sixth possible case of that deadly strain of avian flu has emerged in Indonesia. Preliminary tests indicate a four-year-old boy may have been affected. The virulent strain of flu has been extremely rare among humans. U.S. officials are scrambling to prepare for worst case scenarios amid warnings that this nation is not equipped to handle a flu pandemic.

And Amtrak service returns to the city of New Orleans. The train left New Orleans this morning after arriving from Chicago with a few dozen passengers yesterday. We have a live report from New Orleans coming up a little later in the show.

We'll start with the crisis in Pakistan. President Pervez Musharraf is urgently pleading for outside help in the face of Saturday's earthquake. At this hour, the confirmed number of dead hovers around 20,000, mostly in Pakistan, but also in parts of Indian- controlled Kashmir. At least 43,000 people are injured.

In his latest plea, President Musharraf pointedly asked the United States and Britain to send helicopters to Pakistan to reach those remote tribal areas still not accounted for.

President Bush said he assured Mr. Musharraf by telephone that the U.S. will do all it can to help. (INAUDIBLE) American choppers are to begin to arrive in Pakistan tomorrow. CNN's Satinder Bindra has the very latest from the scene.

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've just come back from an extended tour with the Pakistani army. We flew in a helicopter and from the air, it was quite evident that the northwest frontier province has suffered extensive damage. This is the town of (INAUDIBLE) where some 70 percent of the buildings here have been flattened according to the Pakistani president himself. Some 2,000 people may have perished here.

The force of the earthquake, the intensity of the earthquake was so severe in this region that we saw mountainsides that had developed cracks in them. Hundreds of homes were also destroyed in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, but the most damage and the maximum casualties were suffered in the town of (INAUDIBLE). Here I visited one school in which 60-65 children were killed when their school building collapsed in a heap around them. The Pakistani army has launched a massive relief operation. It's evacuating hundreds of wounded people to hospitals but many people complaining that either the relief was too little or it was arriving too late.

The Pakistani president saying that relief efforts are being hampered by roads which have been blocked by landslides. He's now appealing to the international community for help. He wants helicopters so he can access more remote areas in the northern part of his country. These helicopters say Pakistani officials can evacuate critically injured people and bring in tents, medicines and food for thousands whose homes have been destroyed. Over the next 24 hours, more international rescue teams are expected to arrive here to help Pakistan deal with its worst ever earthquake. Satinder Bindra, CNN, (INAUDIBLE) Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

WILLIS: For the moment, Pakistan and India have shelved the antagonism they feel for each other to try to weather this crisis. As we said, the quake also had an effect on the part of Kashmir that India controls. With the story from there, CNN's Ram Ramgopal.

RAM RAMGOPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This town is close to the line of control that separates the Indian and Pakistani administered town of Kashmir. But the town of Uri is by no means the only one that has been so badly hit. Everywhere you look, there are signs of destruction, entire buildings collapsed. There have been reports of deaths and injuries. But there are also reports coming in from villages outside of this area in the mountains around the town of Uri. People telling us, the locals here telling us that there have been reports of people who have been buried in remote villages and where people -- rescue officials have not been able to get to.

At this point, it's not still clear how badly damaged those remote villages are. But obviously, it will be a few days before the picture becomes entirely clear. All around us, we are seeing signs of relief arriving. There are certainly tent towns, almost tent camps coming up in this town of Uri. These are being set up by the military which has a strong presence here in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir. But certainly there appears to be at this point a certain lack of aid reaching the more remote areas. Locals again telling us that the aid has been distributed mainly along this highway that goes along through the town of Uri. Ram Ramgopal, Uri, Indian administered Kashmir.

WILLIS: And later we will speak with a private U.S. relief worker about the many complications involved in getting aid to Pakistan and other areas struck by the earthquake.

With much of the world's attention focused on the disaster if Pakistan, parts of Guatemala are reeling from mudslides caused by torrential rains from the remnants of hurricane Stan. In one of the worst hit areas, a town of 800 people was completely washed away. With me now to talk more about relief efforts is Luis Paiz. He is the national coordinator for Care international in Guatemala. Luis, thanks for being with us today. We appreciate your time. Are you there, sir?

LUIS PAIZ, CARE INTERNATIONAL: I'm still here. Thank you. WILLIS: Thank you for being here. How desperate is the situation on the ground right now, sir?

PAIZ: Well, yeah, it's quite terrible I would say. At the moment, we are just looking at the tip of the iceberg. Now we are finding that more than 500 people are dead. And this is only, you know, the preliminary data coming mainly from the south part of our country. In the western area, we have more than 100 communities completely isolated. The only way to reach them is by air, although now there is one air breach (ph). It seems that they are finding many problems due to the bad weather to really go to those areas. At the moment also, we have more than 130,000 people affected. And in shelters, in temporary shelters, there are more than 90,000.

WILLIS: Wow. Mr. Paiz, the weather, you brought it up. Has it improved at all? Is it helping at all with the recovery of some of these people?

PAIZ: Well, in some areas yes. We have had some dry periods of time. But not even one day has stopped the rain. So it seems that today, the number of helicopters flying to the western area has increased. So hopefully, we'll have more data from those areas at the end of this day.

WILLIS: So many disasters going on across the globe really. We have the earthquake, of course in south Asia. Do you feel like Guatemala is getting enough attention?

PAIZ: Well, not really. You know, I think that, yeah, you're right. At the moment, the international community is trying to organize their help. And this government are working hard you know, to present comprehensive proposal to them. And I would like to emphasize that this emergency, this phase is just a preliminary phase. Then we really have to concentrate our efforts in the rehabilitation where it's more difficult to get attention and the investment is higher and you know, it is less attractive I would say.

WILLIS: Is there enough help on the way? I know the army is helping with some temporary housing, shelter, tent camps. But is that going to be enough?

PAIZ: Well, I really don't think so. At the moment, the national emergency response community is trying to involve all the important sectors in this country. The private sector, the governmental sectors, also the civil society really trying to coordinate its effort, not only - it is not enough with the help. It is very important to coordinate this effort.

WILLIS: All right.

PAIZ: So I really hope that they're going to succeed in this effort.

WILLIS: We hope so, as well, Mr. Luis Paiz. Thank you so much. He's the national coordinator for Care international in Guatemala. Thank you so much.

And on the CNN security watch, counter terror agents are blanketing the New York subway system at this hour in response to fears of a possible terror attack sometime this weekend. CNN's Keith Oppenheim is standing by with more on this reported threat and the city's response. Keith?

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, this is one of those situations where the public is having to deal with mixed messages. While Federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security continue to cast doubt on the seriousness of the subway scare, city agencies are telling the public to take it seriously, but at the same time, to go about their business.

And that, for the most part, is what we are seeing people doing right here. At the Times Square subway stop as well as other subway stations, we have seen that ridership seems about normal for a Sunday night. That might be a sign that things will be about the same for the upcoming work week.

Keep in mind, New York officials said that this threat originated from information obtained in Iraq. It included the possibility of explosives hidden in baby carriages. The target, the New York subway system. Tonight, riders are in some cases expressing some nervousness about all this, but mostly displaying a classical New York defiance in the face of potential danger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: Despite all the cops that are here, do you feel a little nervous or not so much?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not at all. You can't stop living your life. You're going to take the subway, that's what you do. You can't stop.

OPPENHEIM: I know you're from New Jersey.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I used to live there.

OPPENHEIM: So are you just kind of a tough New Yorker? You do what you have to do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have to.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, I'm nervous. I'm OK with saying I'm nervous. And I think a lot of people are nervous, but I have to go to work. I have to pay bills. So I must do these things. But I'm not happy to live in this state, no, I'm not happy.

OPPENHEIM: Baseball fans of course know that there is a Yankee playoff game tonight against the Angels in the Bronx. It was rained delayed from last night. There will be increased security presence at the ballpark in part because of the terror threat. And the city's number one cop, New York police Commissioner Ray Kelly, says that he will not have his officers stand down, that there will continue to be increased patrols at New York subway stops. This despite the fact that officials at the Federal agency, Department of Homeland Security continue to cast doubt on this threat. Back to you.

WILLIS: Keith, are people taking this in stride? You talked to some people who obviously were. I noticed last week in New York after this threat was made public that a lot of people were walking through town rather than taking the subway. Are you still seeing that?

OPPENHEIM: Not so much over the weekend. On Friday, we did a story about the fact that some people were using alternatives. In other words, using above-ground transportation such as buses or taking cabs home and there was a certain amount of that. But for the most part, from what we're hearing from police, city officials and from riders themselves, they are taking the trains and that is because people really rely on subways to get to where they need to go to in New York. It's partly just due to necessity.

WILLIS: Absolutely true. Keith Oppenheim, thank you for that report.

Be sure to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

And on the road to recovery, Amtrak returns to New Orleans for the first time since hurricane Katrina. In a moment, Lisa Sylvester gives us an update and the New Orleans hospital that captured the sympathy of the nation may be closing. Straight ahead, we talk to a doctor who says that Charity Hospital may not be salvageable.

Also, Kathy Chance takes us to a collapsed apartment building in Islamabad, Pakistan where workers are searching for signs of life. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: Hurricane Tammy is taking a toll in the north. New Hampshire's governor has declared a state of emergency after remnants of the storm caused scattered flooding. Most of it is concentrated in the southwest corner of New Hampshire. At least one person has died in that flooding.

And in New Orleans, there are new allegations of police brutality and a videotape to back them up. A cameraman for Associated Press television news took these pictures of the confrontation. Two New Orleans police officers are seen here repeatedly punching a 64- year-old man who was accused of public intoxication. This happened last night outside a bar on Bourbon Street. An AP producer says he too was attacked by an officer who was trying to make the cameraman stop taking pictures. Today New Orleans police captain told the Associated Press that there will be a criminal investigation and three officers will be suspended, arrested and charged with simple battery.

And a new sign today that New Orleans is making progress in its hurricane recovery efforts. Amtrak is once again running rail service to and from the city. CNN's Lisa Sylvester is, she's standing by for us in New Orleans with an update. Lisa?

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Gerri. This is indeed a sign that the city is slowly but surely coming back to life. This morning, the first train rolled out of here at 7:20 in the morning headed to New York, Atlanta and Washington, DC. That train had only 17 people on board. Then there was an afternoon train that left about 1:40 or so, a few more people on that train, 43 folks on that train.

We had a chance to talk to some of them, to interview them. What brought them back here, how long that they were staying here. And a vast majority of those people were actually coming in just for a day two just to have a chance to look at their house, to check it out and to see how bad the damage was. They also emphasized that they really appreciated having the Amtrak service up and running again because so much people lost their cars in hurricane Katrina. So this is a very viable option for them to be able to get in and out of the city. Another group of people very happy to see the train service running again are the local employees who are very eager to get back to work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

We have more than 350 employees based here in New Orleans. And by putting these two routes back in service, we're able to recall more than 150 of them. Some have gone elsewhere in the country, waiting for the jobs to come back, some of whom can't come back right now because their homes are unusable. But we want to put our people back to work and we want to put New Orleans back on the map, back on the Amtrak map.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: Gerri, a little bit of a fun story that we heard. This actually happened last night when the first trains came into New Orleans. There was a man who got off the train. His girlfriend was waiting for him on the train platform and he goes and walks up to her, gets down on a knee and he proposes to her and she says yes. So there's some really happy stories coming out of here, a little lightness through the day here. Gerri.

WILLIS: It's very good news. Lisa, thank you for that report.

As residents return to New Orleans, they will be without two of the city's medical facilities. That's Charity and University hospitals who were both damaged beyond repair according to local medical officials. With me now to talk more about this is Dr Cathi Fontenot of the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans. Dr., tell us a little bit more about the condition of these facilities. They sound like they're absolutely unusable.

DR. CATHI FONTENOT, MD CENTER OF LA AT NEW ORLEANS: Our structural and mechanical engineers have reviewed the scenes. We had significant flooding in both basements. Our generators, electrical and main mechanical operations were in those basements. There's such corrosion, mold and mildew, that our experts are telling us that it would be unreasonable to expect to re-inhabit those facilities. The spirit of Charity, however, lives on. And in fact, today, we had delivered courtesy of the U.S. Air Force an e-med (ph) which is a military tent. With the expectation that we will provide the physicians, health care providers, nurses, employees, so our employees are here. Our health care providers are here and we expect to open up that emergency facility tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. It is not the -- it certainly does not have the capabilities of our hospitals that were up and running.

WILLIS: That's exactly what I was going to ask you about. What exactly can you do in an e-med? Can you conduct surgery? I mean how far can your care go?

FONTENOT: The services that will be provided through the e-med is intended to provide truly emergency services and triage. At that point if patients need surgical services or have trauma, those will be directed to other locations. This facility is a temporary one and would not be capable of major trauma.

WILLIS: Dr. what do you do in the long run?

FONTENOT: Well, we have our immediate plans include an e-med, opening an ambulatory clinic hopefully in the next two weeks to provide primary care to the citizens of Orleans Parish and our usual patient population. In the intermediate term, we're still looking at all our options including the possibility of some component or modular hospital or maybe even identifying an existing facility here in the city that may not have sustained the kind of damage that ours did. In the long term, our plan is still on track for a new facility ultimately, but that's three to five years down the road.

WILLIS: Where will the money come for that? I know money has been an issue in New Orleans. Are you expecting donations?

FONTENOT: We don't know, although we have had significant donations over the last two weeks from charitable organizations who want us to continue to get up and provide care and even some donations towards the building of a new facility.

WILLIS: Dr. Cathi Fontenot, thank you so much for your help today.

FONENOT: Thanks for having me.

WILLIS: President Bush probably expected a fight over his new Supreme Court nominee but not from his own side. Straight ahead, we'll talk with Suzanne Malveaux about the uproar on the right.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: The Harriet Miers nomination has revealed a growing divide on the political right. Some argue that Miers will be a strong conservative voice on the Supreme Court, but others continue to question her credentials for such an important post. Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins me now with more. Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Gerri, Harriet Miers is spending the weekend in Dallas. That is where she has been compiling many of her records and her papers from her days back in the Dallas city council, all really part of an effort from the administration, from the White House as well as Miers to prove to conservatives that she is worthy of this post, that she is qualified, that she is also conservative enough and follows their agenda. Now while we saw Harriet Miers attending church services in Dallas this morning however, here in Washington, there were conservatives who were basically declaring all-out war on her nomination but specifically directing their criticism to President Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK BUCHANAN, FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CAND: Much of the conservative movement is at war with their own president and that's been the bulwark of the president's support. That's not a healthy situation for any president, especially one who has the difficulties of George W. Bush.

REV. PAT ROBERTSON, FOUNDER, CHRISTIAN COALITION: I think what the president wants is a vote that reflects his point of view. Some of these great brilliant scholars go off the reservation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now Gerri, of course, there is mixed reviews here when it comes to conservatives, some on the one hand saying that they believe she should actually withdraw her nomination. Others are saying, look, let's cool down here and let's take a moment, let's let this process carry out. Of course, that process is going to happen fairly soon. The Senate Judiciary Committee again asking for records.

The real problem here however Gerri for Miers and for the administration is really providing these records. Already, the president has claimed saying executive privilege that there are certain documents and certainly advice that he's gotten as a private White House counsel that he will not reveal to those senators. And at the same time, she has no judicial record really to speak of and that is something that's bothering both Republicans as well as conservatives and Democrats I should say. Gerri?

WILLIS: Suzanne, thank you for that report.

President Bush offers aid and assistance to earthquake damaged Pakistan. The president said this is going to be the worst natural disaster in that nation's history. Saturday's magnitude 7.6 earthquake killed around 20,000 people. Officials expect the death toll to rise. Deaths are also reported in India, Afghanistan, and Kashmir.

Six inches of rain and overflowing rivers left parts of Philadelphia drenched today. Utility crews have been working to restore electricity. The storms at one point left 2400 people without power. At least one fatal accident is blamed on the weather.

And bad weather did not get in the way of the Chicago marathon today. 25-year-old Felix Limo (ph) of Kenya won the men's division with a time of two hours and seven minutes. American Dina Kastor (ph) came in first place in the women's division at two hours and 21 minutes. Some 40,000 runners from 125 countries competed in the race.

Still ahead, Matthew Chance takes us to Islamabad, Pakistan where workers are searching a collapsed building for signs of life. Stay with us.

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