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Your World Today

South Asia Recovering From Tsunami Disaster; Emergency Vehicle Plunges Through Open Drawbridge; Tsunami Survivor Reflects; Gifts You Don't Really Want

Aired December 26, 2005 - 12:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Remembering loved ones lost. One year after the sea swept away so many lives, how South Asia is recovering from the tsunami disaster.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And looking back at another devastating act of nature, we'll revisit the South Asia earthquake, a defining moment of 2005.

It's noon in Khao Lak, Thailand, and 10:00 p.m. in the quake- ravaged areas of Pakistan.

I'm Rosemary Church.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. This is CNN International and YOUR WORLD TODAY.

One year ago this day a giant earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. It triggered the deadliest natural disaster in recorded history.

CHURCH: Well, that -- tsunamis that roared across the shorelines of several countries swept away more than 200,000 people and erased entire villages off the map.

CLANCY: This day all around the world people paused to remember the catastrophe.

In Thailand, some 5,000 paper lanterns with candles inside were released into the night sky after a day of ceremonies there. Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India bearing the brunt of the tsunami, of course.

Atika Shubert, who covered the story originally, has more on today's day of remembrance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new day dawns in Aceh, one year after the Indian Ocean tsunami devastated its shores, marked with prayer in this developing Muslim province of Indonesia.

At 8:15 a.m., a moment of silence, and the sounding of a siren, the country's new tsunami warning system. Aceh lost more than 160,000 people. By far, the hardest hit in this disaster. Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, asked the world to look beyond the pictures of despair.

SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO, INDONESIAN PRESIDENT: In a catastrophe of this size it is easy to see only ruins. But look past the rubble. You will see progress by the roads that are being built, including one that will bridge (ph) the rubble. You will see villages slowly, slowly attacking, pick and saved (ph). You will see markets brightening up landscapes. You will see children back at school and new teachers being trained.

SHUBERT: In Thailand, too, thousands gathered to mourn their lost families and friends, wearing white according to Thai custom. The tsunami struck the holiday destinations of Phuket and Khao Lak at 10:00 a.m. Less than two hours after devastating Aceh, a wall of water traveling the speed of a jetliner.

Of the more than 5,000 killed in Thailand, nearly half were foreign tourists. Many survivors, friends and families returned to Thailand to bid final farewell to their loved ones.

INGRID HASTIE, MOURNER: Very sad. Very sad. And hopefully this time we say good-bye will be the last time, and it will go on from here and be a nice life from now on. And maybe my mother will be restful now, I think, with a year gone by. It was a very hard year last year.

SHUBERT: The tsunami hit the island nation of Sri Lanka an hour later, wiping out entire villages and destroying the Queen of the Sea, a train carrying more than 1,000 onboard. A bell was sounded at the exact moment the waves hit, marking two minutes of silence.

In India, where more than 6,000 were killed, a memorial was opened, featuring an eternal flame to remember those who lost their lives in this disaster.

The Indian Ocean tsunami was one of the largest natural disasters in history, but the final death toll may never be known. There are still tens of thousands missing. Their bodies presumed to be washed out to sea.

(on camera): On this one-year anniversary here in Aceh, those who are still missing will be proclaimed dead, bringing the estimated death toll throughout the region to a staggering 230,000 people killed in this disaster.

(voice-over): In the mosques and temples, a time to pray for lives stolen by the disaster, but also to recognize the enduring resilience of survivors across the region and their hopes for the future.

Atika Shubert, CNN, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CLANCY: Well, as Atika showed us in that report, it is the people who matter most, the victims of the tsunami. Still, the numbers tell us a lot about how the recovery has gone. Let's look at some of those numbers.

The United Nations says international donors have pledged some $13.6 billion toward the rebuilding effort across South Asia. These are some other key statistics from both the U.N. and OXFAM. Total damage from the tsunami, this is what it all came to in the end, just over $10.7 billion. Now, rebuilding costs come in at around $10.4 billion.

The tsunami displaced nearly 2,090,000 people. Many of them are still homeless. And it destroyed the livelihoods of 1.5 million people. Some 393,000 homes were demolished by the waves, and thus far, of those hundreds of thousands of homes, only than 46,000 have actually been rebuilt.

CHURCH: Now, some survivors say the waves seemed to come from nowhere, catching them completely off guard. Many lives might have been saved if an early warning system had been in place.

Kristie Lu Stout tells us how Indonesia is trying to prevent such a catastrophic result should a tsunami happen again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been a year since the tsunami slammed ashore. But Banda Aceh still bears its scars. You see it in the twisted metal, the gutted buildings, and the naked foundations where homes once stood.

"My house was right over there," says Bastami Anzi (ph). "It was a traditional house made of wood, but it's long gone."

Bastami is fisherman who was at sea when the tsunami struck. His wife and three children at home asleep. He managed to survive the giant wave in a boat. When he returned, there was no sign of his family. He now lives in a tent next to his surviving relatives.

The Indian Ocean tsunami claimed more than 200,000 lives. There was no early warning system.

Onboard the Zunnah (ph), a team of scientists is installing a way to warn of a tsunami.

DR. UDO BARCKHAUSEN, GEOPHYSICIST: Put everything in place. From the technical side, we can raise the alarm within less than five minutes, which would even for (ph) coastal areas close by here now.

STOUT: And it looks like this: sensors are placed on the ocean floor to detect sea activity. They're linked to giant buoys that measure surface movement and transmit all the data by a satellite to stations on land.

(on camera): But that high-end system of seabed sensors and buoys right off the coast of this beach here will amount to nothing unless the warning it picks up is really to every person on this beach.

(voice-over): Enter the Red Cross. The international aid group is organizing how to get that warning out to the community.

VIRGIL GRANDFIELD, IFRC: The early warning system, which is definitely technology based, still depends on people on the other end of it. And so the cartoon teaches people how to rebuild their communities in a safer way, but also how the early warning system would work at their end.

STOUT: The cartoon shows how the Red Cross relays the warning. It also shows how the community should respond. A simple but potentially life-saving message that has been screened to some 100,000 people.

The Red Cross is training volunteers across the tsunami zone how to play their roles. The role system should be ready by next year.

Today, Banda Aceh is rattled by quakes sometimes two to three times a week. With every rumble, the people head to the hills. For a while, though, they might stop doing that. But once the warning system is in place, the locals will know the difference between a false alarm and the real thing.

Bastami Anzi (ph) is certain a tsunami will come back, but he's ready to heed any warning. He tells me, "Hand phone or siren, you can reach me."

The call to prayer sounds at dusk in Banda Aceh, and before the next tsunami hits Bastami (ph) should hear the call to run.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Our inbox question for you this day focuses on the tsunami.

CHURCH: And this is what we want you to consider. Has the international community done enough for people affected by the tsunami? Just send us your thoughts at ywt@cnn.com.

CLANCY: Now, remember to tell us your name, at least your first name and where you're writing from. We're going to try to read some of your replies a little bit later in the show.

Turning to news now in China, where a fire in a bar in the southern region of the country has killed at least 26 people, another eight people injured in that blaze. The fire broke out during a Christmas Day celebration shortly before midnight in the city of Zhongshan in Guangdong province.

A police source ruled out media reports of suspected arson. Another official says the bar owner has been detained for questioning. China has suffered a string of such fires in public places. Many of those have been blamed on overlooked safety rules.

CHURCH: Officials in Russia are ruling out terrorism as the motive behind the release of a noxious gas in a home products store in St. Petersburg. Dozens of people have been taken to the hospital. Interfax reports that employees in at least two other Maksidom stores found canisters with wires and timers attached. The chain said it has received letters that threatened to disrupt holiday shopping. Officials say threats are sometimes used in disputes between Russian businesses.

CLANCY: Israel's prime minister set to undergo a medical procedure that would repair a small hole in his heart. Ariel Sharon's doctors say they found that defect during some tests they conducted. They said the hole contributed to a minor stroke that Sharon suffered last week.

Now, it's hoped that a catheter can be inserted in his heart and that would help prevent any further future blood clots. Mr. Sharon is campaigning for a third term as prime minister.

CHURCH: Well, just ahead on YOUR WORLD TODAY, one year after the tsunami destroyed so many lives, what's the status of the humanitarian relief?

CLANCY: That's right. We're going to be talking with an organization that played a key role in trying to help the survivors to get a view of all of that.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Just one of many services honoring the memory of so many who lost their lives in last year's tsunami in South Asia.

We know all about the devastation caused by the disaster, but how are the survivors coping today? Joining us from New York is Charles Lyons. He's the president of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. He's just returned from Banda Aceh in Indonesia.

Now, Banda Aceh a place that we all heard about there in Indonesia, a place that was hard hit, but not totally destroyed, fortunately, because that became the hub for relief supplies.

How's it doing today?

CHARLES LYONS, U.S. FUND FOR UNICEF: Jim, hi. I was struck by just the fundamental change of spirit in Banda Aceh.

In early January, understandably, it was just -- there was so much gloom and grief. Parents without children, children without parents. The destruction was overwhelming.

And last week, in contrast, the numbers of kids in school, the children I saw in children's centers that have been built so that they could have a place to play that was safe, singing songs and patting each other on the back, and tipping over in laughter with each other, it just was a markedly different place in terms of the energy with which everyone is, you know, sort of getting back their lives.

CLANCY: All right. The human spirits are up. Is the housing going up?

The one thing I'm hearing a year later is that there are some tens of thousands of units that have been built but there -- the need is hundreds of thousands of homes.

LYONS: There are still too many people that are not in adequate shelter. There's no...

CLANCY: You mean their in tents?

LYONS: That's right. There's no question that that part of the rehabilitation is going slower than the people on the ground want it to go.

It's a complicated process that has to do with land rights. It has to do with decisions about where those homes get. It's not something outsiders can impose on community leaders or on government.

I don't think there's anybody that wants this to happen better for more people that those that have been working 24 hours a day for the last year.

CLANCY: Charles, I believe it was an unprecedented about money that the international community came up with, more than $11 billion to help the people of this tsunami. How has it been spent, in your estimation? Not only within UNICEF, but I mean when you look across the board.

LYONS: Well, speaking to -- first to UNICEF's portion of it, which is a fraction of the total, it's been spent on priorities for kids. The tsunami was particularly devastating for young people, and so the response needed to be centered on young people as well: their health, water and sanitation, getting them back to school, reuniting families, stopping the trafficking of kids.

There are an unprecedented number of organizations that are working in Banda Aceh as well. And so the needs and the responses have covered the waterfront, so to speak, from boats for fishermen to housing, micro-credit schemes for job creation.

I think if you look at a number of different organizations, the pace is about the same. People have spent a substantial amount of money in the early phase for the emergency.

There are certain decisions that you can make fast and get right. Immunizing kids is fast and right. Choosing where a permanent school is built, where entire communities should be replaced in terms of permanent housing, is a harder decision, a more complicated one. And there are resources that will be matched when those decisions get made. CLANCY: A year ago we talk about human trafficking, we talked about the risk that is there. It always happens after a tragedy. You have thousands of homeless children, somebody's going to try to take advantage of it.

What is the status of that today?

LYONS: It' believed that that -- the worst fears of accelerated -- trafficking exists week in, week out around the world, as we said a year ago, and that still is the case globally. But the attention brought to the situation of the tsunami, because of the fast media reaction, because of fast reaction by government and organizations, there were protections that were put in place.

And so one of the successes, the milestone successes beyond the immunizing of kids, the prevention of measles and cholera epidemics, those things did not happen and they were expected to happen. So, too, is one of the successes that accelerated trafficking of kids did not happen.

CLANCY: Charles Lyons, president of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

I want to thank you very much and the people that work with you in UNICEF for all you've done in the last year. Thanks for being with us.

LYONS: I want to thank CNN for the attention its paid to this. Thank you.

CLANCY: All right.

Well, we've got to take a short break. We'll be right back. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta. More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in just a few minutes. First, though, let's check on stories making headlines around the U.S.

Search crews are scouring a freezing river in Jersey City, New Jersey, for the body of a police officer. His squad truck fell more than 40 feet off an open drawbridge last night. The body of another officer who was with him at the time has already been recovered.

CNN's Chris Huntington joins us now with the latest.

Chris, hello.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, hello.

This is a tragic irony. Two officers falling victim to the very accident they were working so hard to prevent.

Officer Sean Carson and Officer Robert Nguyen both plunged into the frigid waters of the Hackensack River off the eastern side of this bridge that's behind me here, unaware that it had been raised. Jersey City's police chief and mayor describe the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ROBERT TROY, JERSEY CITY, N.J. POLICE: These two officers, these heroes, they went over the bridge and they delivered the flares. And when they got done delivering the flares, the other officers were setting the flares up.

Another incident did occur there not related to what they were doing, was distracted. A lot of the officers at the scene. These two officers got back in their truck and headed east, not knowing that the bridge was opened for an oncoming tug.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because of the hour, the darkness, the rain, the fog, I'm sure it was impossible for those two fine young men to see what they were driving into, their own -- their own demise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTINGTON: So Daryn, to recap, in terrible conditions, nasty weather, these two officers were responding to the drawbridge operator's request for traffic management because one of the safety gates was broken. These two officers were delivering flares and traffic cones to other officers on the far side of the bridge who had already begun to halt traffic.

They safely passed over the bridge going west. When they returned coming east, they tragically fell. Both are presumed dead. The search continues for Officer Robert Nguyen.

Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: Chris Huntington in Jersey City.

Chris, thank you.

Firefighters in Indianapolis are still battling a big blaze at this hour. The flames engulfed a restaurant supply warehouse earlier today. The business was closed for the holiday, and authorities say no one is believed to be inside this building.

It was a white Christmas in the Nevada -- in the Sierra Nevada, and it should continue today. A winter storm warning remains in effect through 4:00 Pacific Time. As much as two and a half feet of snow is expected at higher elevations. It's likely to improve ski conditions at the Sierra Nevada ski resorts, but it's expected to cause traffic delays.

Which means, Chad, bring your chains, because it's the West. And that's what we do in the West. We use chains.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I think you just leave them in your car from now until May.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Chad, thank you.

MYERS: You're welcome.

KAGAN: A lot of retailers saying the Christmas season has been less than spectacular. So they're offering deep discounts to entice shoppers for some post-Christmas bargain hunting. You can see from this crowd of eager shoppers penny-pinchers are answering the call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my second stop.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Second stop?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the first go-round.

ZARRELLA: First go-round?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll be back.

ZARRELLA: You're coming back?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

ZARRELLA: You didn't clean it out?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. See, what we did is, this is the Christmas stop. Now you've got to go and get the household stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Economists predict that shoppers will respond to other promotions such as longer store hours and the early unveiling of spring lines. Overall, they say the November-December retail season will likely end with a modest increase of under five percent.

Be sure to join Betty Nguyen at the top of the hour on "LIVE FROM."

Meanwhile, YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break.

I'm Daryn Kagan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International. I'm Rosemary Church.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. And these are the stories that are making headlines right now. One year after the disaster, the world paused to remember victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami. Somber ceremonies have been held in the hardest hit countries like Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India. In Thailand, where thousands of paper lanterns were released into the night sky, the catastrophe killed more than 200,000 people.

CHURCH: Well, Chinese state media say the owners of a bar in southern China, the scene of a deadly fire, have now been detained. The blaze killed at least 26 people and injured at least eight. The fire broke out shortly before midnight during a Christmas Day celebration in the city of Zhongshan in Guangdong province. A police source denied media reports that arson was suspected.

CLANCY: Officials in Russia report terrorism is not suspected in the release of a noxious gas in a home products store in St. Petersburg. More than 70 people at the Maksidom store have been taken to hospitals. The chain said it had received letters that threatened to disrupt holiday shopping.

CHURCH: Well, returning now to our top story, the tsunami disaster one year later. There are, of course, many stories of miraculous survival on the day the sea came roaring in. Lisa Dobbs and her family were vacationing in an island off Sri Lanka's coast when the disaster struck and she joins us now from Washington to tell us their story.

And, Lisa, I mean, really, reading your story was just -- it's an extraordinary story of survival. If you could just relay to us what you remember on that day?

LISA DOBBS, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR: Sure. Well, we were, as you said, vacationing there. And I was wading in the water, having decided -- it was early in the morning, and I had decided not to take a swim around the island. So I was wading.

And all of a sudden, I was ankle deep in water. I turned to face the island to walk back to it, and all of a sudden the water was up around my neck. And I was really far, far from the island. I couldn't figure out how, as you can see from this picture, I was right close to the island, and all of a sudden I was way off to the right and close in to the shore.

And as I turned to looked where I was going, I thought perhaps I was caught in a riptide. I just started to swim, by the way, but wasn't getting anywhere. So thinking I might be in a riptide, I turned to face the shore, in the direction in which the water was taking me, and I realized that the beach was no longer there.

And I could hear the cracking of hundreds of boats just being pushed through the trees, and cracked, just literally torn in half. And I remember I was passing a man in a tree, and he had his -- a young Sri Lankan man -- and he had his hand down to try and catch me. I knew I'd pull him right out of the tree, but I decided to try anyway.

And right as I was about to reach his hand, a rush of water came from behind me and pushed me under. And then after that, everything happened very fast. I just was tumbling and tumbling underwater, right into the village.

And after a few minutes of this, my body, I was trying to find the surface. I didn't really know which way the surface was. Right as that happened, my body struck some solid object that I just grabbed it. It was a rope. And I pulled -- I followed it. It was attached to a tree. It was like a miracle.

And I pulled myself up into this tree, and the water kept rising and rising. And I kept going higher and higher. And finally, I was at the level of the rooftops. I could see these -- you know, these a- frames. And the water at the tip of the a. And that was where I was.

And there was sort of various crying and various things around me. And then, all of a sudden, everything fell silent. And I could see the bit of sunlight in between the water line and this a-frame house. And all of a sudden, the water just dropped, as quickly as it came in. And I mean, I was still afraid to get out of the tree.

But eventually, I heard my name called. And it was my brother- in-law. And just, by some unbelievable miracle, there stood my husband, my brother-in-law and me, bleeding and quite -- you know, completely -- I mean, distracted dismayed.

And then we walked back out to the island. And when I say walked back out to the island, I just can't tell you what it looked like. An it looked like a scene out of the Bible. There was no water left at all on the bay at all. It was just bits of debris and the reefs and fish flapping that had sort of not gotten out of the way.

And we made it back up there and to discover that our children were safe and everybody was safe. It was just amazing.

CHURCH: It's an unbelievable story. And that, of course, the reason why they were safe is the family home was sit quite high, wasn't it?

DOBBS: Right.

CHURCH: So you were above the water line? But, what, a day or so later, you did go into a nearby city. What were your feelings when you were able to sort of look across the devastation?

DOBBS: Well, I mean, we were completely amazed by it. We didn't really know what had happened for a while, because we were cut off. We had no television. There was no phone where we were.

And it was only when my husband and his brother went in to the town that we began to discover the scope of this. And, you know, all along the way -- we decided to stay there for a day. And then the very next day, it was impossible, because there was no fresh water, there were no -- there was nothing. There was no food; there was no water. We were sort of eating leftover bits of food that were quickly going rancid. And so we evacuated and just miraculously got to a nearby town, the largest town, called Galle, which are pictures that you're showing right now. This right here was the bus station. This was filled with people. There were thousands of people, and buses, and people waiting to go all kinds of places. And they disappeared in a minute. It was gone, like a flash.

There were dead dogs sort of slumped over in various places, cows that were dead, that were legs stuck in the air, people with their, you know, bodies laid out everywhere.

And the most striking thing were pictures like these, where -- this is my brother-in-law, who has a relief effort now. And they've done quite a lot of good there. But these buses and trains, tracks that were just ripped up and, you know, hurled into, like somebody had picked them up and just thrown a Tonka toy into the shore, into a tree, a mile inland. It was completely amazing. The power of the water was -- I'd never seen anything like that.

CHURCH: You mentioned that your family is doing a lot of work to help those who were affected. Your family, of course, is very lucky. How are you doing that? And how can others help?

DOBBS: Well, my brother-in-law started an organization called Adopt Sri Lanka. It's a Web site, of course, AdoptSriLanka.com. But what we did immediately upon coming back was start to raise money. And we raised, I guess, a little over half a million dollars. He's raised many millions.

And what he has spent the money on is building houses, putting children back in schools. He's paired various high schools, like Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda is paired with a school in Weligama, and various materials go back and forth, books and pens and all sorts of things that they need.

He's also done something which I think is very interesting. One of the reasons, I think, we survived is because when the water rose, we just didn't panic. You know, water was something we were used to. We had all learned to swim at an early age. We were relatively good swimmers. And so we just started to swim.

But for many who don't swim, the water is a very frightening experience. And so what some of this money has gone for, about $100,000 or more, is to bring in small swimming pools. This is the entrance after it was devastated.

Anyway, the small swimming pools are being used to help children learn to swim, and there's a huge learn to swim program in the southern part of the country now where the first children went in, in August, and have already graduated.

And the idea is to teach people to co-exist with the water, in a less frightful fashion. And so a lot of money has gone toward that and, as I said, the building of homes, schools, businesses, putting fishermen back out on the sea, because fishing is their livelihood. Fishing and tourism is it for Sri Lanka. CHURCH: Lisa Dobbs, an extraordinary story there of survival, and certainly turning it around for yourselves and for those others who have been affected by the tsunami. Thank you so much for talking with us.

DOBBS: You're quite welcome.

CLANCY: And this reminder, everyone, our "Inbox Question of the Day" focuses on the tsunami.

CHURCH: And what we're asking you is: Has the international community done enough for people affected by the tsunami? Just send us your thoughts at ywt@CNN.com.

CLANCY: Well, while we focus today on the anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami, we can't forget that 2005 had other major natural disasters.

CHURCH: It certainly did. The most devastating was the South Asia earthquake. As part of our weeklong look at the defining moments of the year, we take you to the scene of that catastrophe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Absolute devastation, not just here in Pakistan, a region-wide catastrophe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seventy-five percent of Balakot, this small town, is gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Survivors walk around in a daze, mourning their dead. Others dig away furiously hoping to find their loved ones.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Lagina Bibbi (ph) lost her baby son and her 9-year-old daughter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We have lost everything. We are thinking, what will we do? At this moment, my mind is not right.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It gives you hope. It's always (INAUDIBLE) involved. I think this -- we got a feeling there's more people alive in here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have been going at this debris ever since, literally with their hands and with shovels.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Three-and-a-half days after he was trapped in his classroom, a scared little boy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was about 24 hours ago. They heard the voice of this mother, and she was asking after her child. And just about an hour ago, first, the child was brought out on a stretcher, alive, and then the mother, brought out, alive.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I was in my school at the time of the earthquake. All of the children were crying. And then we saw our school collapse around us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We were taking our exams when the whole building started to shake and collapse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Many injuries from the earthquake have become septic so this boy's fingers have been removed. The only way Ensha (ph) could be pulled from her school was by having her leg amputated. Her classmate, Assad's (ph), head was trapped. He's now brain-damaged. Sadaf (ph) was buried for two days. His arms are broken. His brother is dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): At this stage, I can't even afford to think about the future. I'm thinking only about surviving.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're incredibly resilient. And little children are even more resilient than adults.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice to see a few smiles on faces. It makes a pleasant change to see them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): These are the lucky ones. Amid the ravaged buildings, an outside school has been set up so that they can continue with some sort of education.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My only hope, that the international community comes up to the same level or near what assistance tsunami or Katrina got.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Two helicopters crammed with food reach a village cut off for weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are afraid, unless we coordinate well, a lot of this aid will actually not be properly utilized.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Pakistani soldiers open fire on Pakistani civilians attempting to cross the line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can hear the fire around us. They're firing into the air, but people are up on the hill. There is always the risk here that someone really, really could get seriously wounded, if not killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let us together solve the Kashmir dispute once for all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I'm grateful to both India and Pakistan." Zeman (ph) is one of 23 residents of Indian-controlled Kashmir to cross the line of control this weekend, the first civilians to do so in nearly 60 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): The lines of the hungry and homeless only seem to grow longer. The eyes urgent, desperate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Tents stand upright in Balakot now. Things look normal, but inside, nothing's normal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tuatimons (ph) are very much of a dangerous forest because snowing fall is becoming and weather is very cold.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): All of our houses are full of cracks. That's why we're using these tents. In the daytime, we stay in our houses by the fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We don't have anyplace else to go to, so we are going to stay here through the winter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope we will all be able to work, to make sure that those of us that have survived these awful moments will be able to through this winter and to have the chance to rebuild their lives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone, to CNN International and this hour of international news.

Well, Hanukkah celebrations began with the lighting of the first candle of the menorah Sunday night in Israel and across the globe. The eight-day festival of lights commemorates a successful Jewish rebellion against an oppressive regime some 2,200 years ago.

In China, crowds gathered to observe Hanukkah at the Great Wall. It's the first such ceremony at the massive structure. Israel's ambassador to China called in an historical moment bringing two civilizations together.

And in Moscow, hundreds of people danced after sundown to mark the holiday. They were attending a lighting ceremony at a seven-meter menorah near the Kremlin. Moscow's mayor and chief rabbi took part.

CLANCY: Well, it is time for us to check the weather, and wintry weather has been all in the news.

CHURCH: Very horrible temperatures across Europe. Let's take a look with Guillermo Arduino.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: All right, holiday season, Hanukkah, Christmas, but what would do you do with all the fruitcakes that you get, you know, the big two, three-pounders? CHURCH: Yes, not only fruit cakes, but a lot of other things that you look at and you think, "What were you thinking when you gave that to me?" Well, we've got a reporter who's pulled together a great story. And Robyn Curnow takes a look at what you do with those gifts you really don't want.

CLANCY: Re-gifting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Why is it that, with so much to choose from when buying a gift, we so often make a mistake?

Let's face it. Sometimes gifts are just the wrong color and the wrong smell, just plain wrong. So instead of putting an ill-chosen gift at the back of the cupboard never to be seen again, many people simply give them to someone else, a sneaky little ritual called re- gifting.

CHARLES MOSLEY, ETIQUETTE EXPERT: I didn't even know they had a book section. I must have a look at that.

CURNOW: Charles Mosley, a British etiquette expert, says a lot of people do it, but it's just not right.

MOSLEY: It is considered bad form. But, of course, like all social errors, only if you're caught. So don't get caught.

CURNOW: Mosley says, if you insist on re-gifting, at least do it carefully.

MOSLEY: Of course, it's absolutely fatal, giving the same gift back to somebody who gave it to you in the first place.

CURNOW: Savvy re-gifters know to keep their gifting circles widely separated by sending unwanted presents out of town or perhaps by just not caring who gets what.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess it's part of recycling. It's a good thing, I believe. Better than letting them pile up at home and not use them, you know what I mean?

CURNOW: He calls it recycling. Others call it rude.

(on-screen): Would you give on a gift?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, absolutely no. If it's given to me, it's given to me because they think that I'd like it. I may not put it out, I may not use it, but I wouldn't give it away.

CURNOW (voice-over): Pretending you like the gift in the first place is all part of the problem, says Charles Mosley.

MOSLEY: A lot of social life is based not quite on a lie but on a, "Let's pretend." I pretend that I love your gift. Actually, it's not that I hate it. But frankly, I thought it was a bit boring, but I still come up, "Oh, it's so sweet of you, just what I wanted. Mwah, mwah, mwah, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss."

CURNOW: But fake kisses and false thanks rarely help when you know you've received a secondhand present. Unlike these brand-new goodies, the recycled gift has tell-tale signs, like well-worn wrapping or extra crumpled tissue paper.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you can tell. You spot them a mile away.

CURNOW (on-screen): Like what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Books, all these beauty products, soaps. What else? Actually, a used T-shirt. So, yes, I've had my share.

(LAUGHTER)

CURNOW: Used T-shirts? How did you know? Was it all definitely well worn?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It had hair on it.

CURNOW (voice-over): Some gifts it seems are in bad taste no matter how many times you pass them on.

Robyn Curnow, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: All right. Are we going to do a quick look at our "Inbox"?

CLANCY: We hope that we are. We've got a little bit late holiday mail...

CHURCH: We're relying on technology.

CLANCY: ... that was a little slow coming in here. But let's take a look.

One year to the day after the -- this is the anniversary of the Asian tsunami. Tens of thousands of lives lost. Many more altered forever. These are the "Inbox" questions.

CHURCH: All right. The first one we asked was: Has the international community done enough for people affected by the tsunami?

Now, Jason said, "The tsunami relief effort is a glorious example of mankind working hand-in-hand toward a mutual goal. Too bad we can't harness this global teamwork to tackle other issues."

CLANCY: All right. We've got to say goodbye now. I'm sorry we ran out of time on the "Inbox" this day. Better luck tomorrow.

CHURCH: Absolutely.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy for now.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. Thanks for watching.

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