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Changing Tactics to Rescue Trapped Miners; Ice Rink Rescue in Germany; Indonesia Floods

Aired January 03, 2006 - 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.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A jumble of girders pierce the frigid air as a barrage of questions punctuate the rescue effort for those trapped in what's left of an ice skating rink in Germany.

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Another race against time in a coal mine in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Rescuers now discouraged.

CHURCH: Fear of chaos grips the Palestinian territories as campaigning begins for an experiment in democracy.

CLANCY: And then a bit later, how the Internet might reach places you never thought possible. Meet the little laptop that could.

Right now it's 6:00 p.m. in Germany's Bavarian Alps, it is noon in the coal fields of West Virginia.

I'm Jim Clancy.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church.

This is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

Well, welcome to our viewers in the United States and throughout the world.

Intense efforts in several parts of the world this day for people who have been gripped by disaster amid frigid conditions.

CLANCY: Let's start in Germany. That's where precarious jagged walls a collapsed ice skating arena stand in the way of rescuers.

CHURCH: In the U.S. state of West Virginia, a desperate effort to reach miners trapped there far underground.

CLANCY: And high in the mountains of Pakistan, disease stalking those exposed to winter's harsh elements after last October's earthquake.

We'll have more on all of these stories.

In the U.S. state, though, of West Virginia, mining company officials say they have changed their tactics. They are trying to reach 13 trapped miners. And they are going to have to be creative about it.

Kimberly Osais is at the scene in the small town of Tallmansville.

Kimberly, what can you tell us about disappointments and the hopes that might remain?

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rescue workers are down there still right now, two teams of about five or six men. They are holding out any kind of hope.

This is very slow-going, Jim. It is a very tedious process by hand. They are also drilling in several locations.

They completed one of those locations earlier this morning. And despite hearing some very bad news about noxious chemicals, about the carbon monoxide level being very high, three times more than is acceptable for human levels, they are still holding out hope. The owner of the company that owns the mine, the International Coal Group, is holding out hope, any kind of vestige of hope that these 13 miners are still alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN HATFIELD, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL COAL GROUP: The hope that we cling to is, again, with the drill hole that did penetrate in the face area of second left, we didn't see major combustion damage. We didn't see the equipment turned upside down. We didn't see cables burned.

There was no indication of a massive disruptive explosion. That's probably the brightest spot that we've encountered in the last few hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OSIAS: Now, I want to talk to you a little bit about where they are actually drilling. If you think about sort of an upside down F, that is what this mine looks like.

Now, that first part of the F that juts off sort of to the left, that is how far these rescue crews were able to make it initially, about 9,000 feet down. These miners, these 13 men, are believed to be down about anywhere between 10,000 to 13,000 feet is what I am now told.

They have been able to go down a little bit farther than they were making, some headway from this morning to about 10,200 feet now. And they are -- and they are -- actually, they are drilling.

They looked at this one area, the first left area. And they are -- that's where the rescue teams made it initially. They are going down. Now they have another drill site in progress.

That is -- they are looking and checking for sort of the carbon monoxide levels. They are hoping to get any kind of communication with these men. So far, nothing since yesterday morning at about 6:30.

They are going to drill in another site around 2:00 in that area of the F, that sort of second left where their best guess is as to where these 13 men are. They are still holding onto anything.

I spoke to a lot of these family members. And they say while they are sort of bracing for the worst, they are hoping for the best. Until they find evidence that these men are not alive, they are going to cling to that hope.

And remember, I mean this is a community that has been doing this for a long time. It is cross-generational. I talked to one family. He was a third generation family member of these coal miners.

So again, we will hear from them about 3:30 again today. The governor of West Virginia on hand to offer his support and emotionally boost these families up in this time of need -- Jim.

CLANCY: Kimberly Osais reporting to us there live from the scene of that mine disaster. The rescue efforts continue. We'll hear more on this disaster as events warrant.

CHURCH: All right.

Another disaster now. We want to go back to Germany, where a desperate search for people still trapped in the rubble of a collapsed ice skating rink is now on hold.

The disaster has claimed 11 lives so far. Some of them children.

Rescuers fear the building could collapse again. The roof gave way under heavy snow in the Bavarian town of Bad Reichenhall on Monday.

Our Chris Burns -- all right. We were going to Chris Burns, but unfortunately we haven't got him at this stage. But hopefully we'll go later on to him in the program.

Well, Pakistan's army spokesman says it's a tall order to sustain earthquake survivors during the harsh winter months. But Islamabad is confident it will live up to the challenge.

While officials scramble since the October quake to prepare for the coming winter, heavy weather and landslides prevented delivery of relief supplies to some areas. And now with relief flights grounded for a third straight day due to weather, relief officials say the situation is dire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FARHANA FAROOQI STOCKER, OXFAM: We feel that the situation is desperate. If the situation was not desperate, you would not find people who have suffered because of the earthquake, who have lost family members, who have lost their homes, who have lost their life- long belongings, now push to making decisions to come down and leave their village and their homes. So it is an ultimate, you know, state of desperation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And some survivors are making the trek down from the mountains for the first time since the earthquake struck. Many are seeking medical treatment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ABDUL HAFEEZ KADAR, PAKISTANI ISLAMIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: The majority, 40 to 50 percent of patients, were children. And the majority of them were suffering from respiratory tract infection.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, we want to go back to Germany now. It appears that we do have our Chris Burns on the line.

Chris, if you can hear me, of course as we have been reporting, the rescue effort is on hold. Well, the effort at least to remove that roof. What are the ramifications given that they are really working against the clock here?

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, they are working against the clock. But they are saying that that pause is not for long.

Perhaps in the next few hours, or even sooner, they are expecting heavy equipment to arrive from, of course, down -- down the mountain to these very high up in the Bavarian Alps -- to this small town to try to help further dig out these four people left missing, one woman of 35 years old and three children.

They are still saying -- the officials still hold out hope that they can perhaps find these people alive. There are certain factors such as kind of the igloo effect. There could be an air pocket with snow around it that might -- might allow somebody to survive.

So they are not ruling out finding somebody alive. However, they have not found anybody alive. They found a 6-year-old girl last night, they've found a few more bodies today. The death count is now at 11 -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: And Chris, shed some light on this shocking news that apparently it was known the possibility of this roof collapsing just a short time before this did occur.

BURNS: Well, officials are saying that the technical director at the rink, at the ice skating rink had decided that there wasn't too much snow on that roof during the day, but that in the evening they would have to clear it off. Apparently he was a few hours too late.

That is why there are a lot of people who are demanding answers. They are asking questions about whether those safety regulation were strict enough, whether they were followed closely enough. And that is why now there is a criminal investigation under way. CHURCH: And what could the fallout be as a result of this?

BURNS: Well, certainly a shakeup there in this town of those who were responsible. Now, whether that could go wider is anybody's guess. But certainly the parents are asking for some kind of answers and probably restitution for their loss. Most of these 11 victims are children.

CHURCH: Indeed. And Chris, we're just looking at those pictures there. I mean, it is an absolute mess, the rubble as a result of this collapse. Give us an idea on what this could mean in terms of other structures in this region possibly being reinforced and something being done to ensure that does occur.

BURNS: Well, that's obviously -- obviously getting people to think about their own towns, their own structures, whether they are built to standard, whether they are perhaps in danger because of this heavy, heavy unseasonable snow that we've had in recent days, combined with rain and sleet, put a lot of weight on some of these structures.

Now, this ice skating rink was about 30 years old. There are others that are obviously much older than that. So they do have to keep that in mind, and that is obviously something the Bavarians are going to have to look at very closely in the coming days.

CHURCH: All right. Chris Burns on videophone from the scene there.

Thanks so much.

CLANCY: Another area where weather is really affecting people right now in the thousands and thousands happens to be in Asia, where they're going to higher ground in central Indonesia. That after flashfloods struck some villages in East Java Province. Local officials say at least 57 people have been killed, 30 others are missing.

Now, the heavy weekend rains -- and if you take a look at the pictures, you see them -- they triggered floods and a landslide that swept away thousands of homes and schools.

More now from Eli Flournoy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELI FLOURNOY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Indonesian soldiers and local residents battled hand in hand against heavy rains and deadly conditions Tuesday to rescue survivors of floods and landslides on the island of Java. Workers are struggling to stay ahead of rising waters with rope and makeshift bamboo bridges.

Many villagers fled to higher ground. Some tell of the horror of being caught off guard by deadly flashfloods.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We realized that the water was rising early in the evening, so we left our home to a higher ground. But around midnight it subsided, so we went back. But the flashflood hit then as we were sitting around.

FLOURNOY: The names of dozens killed have been posted at a local morgue. Hundreds have been left homeless. Local media reports say one flashflood alone demolished as many as 2,500 homes.

Floods and landslides are common in Indonesia's battered East Java Province, where illegal logging and farmer practices contribute to soil erosion. Officials fear continued rains in the forecast will lead again to more flooding.

Eli Flournoy, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, in Europe, Moscow bows to pressure to restore natural gas supplies.

CLANCY: Still, executives of Russia's state-run energy giant Gazprom are signaling the gas war with Ukraine not over yet.

We'll have more on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

We begin with a developing story we are following out of West Virginia, the desperate search to reach 13 trapped coal miners. Crews are drilling more holes into the mine hoping to locate the men. Drilling is under way on a second hole. Work on a third is expected to begin in less than two hours.

Also, a rescue team has made it further into the main shaft of the mine.

Meanwhile, family members are keeping an anxious vigil at a nearby church.

CNN's Kimberly Osais is following the latest developments, and she joins us from Tallmansville, West Virginia -- Kimberly.

OSIAS: Hello, Daryn.

Well, it is 30-plus hours, and time, of course, is of the essence in what they are still calling a rescue mission. Now, Daryn, I want to tell you a little bit about how far it is believed that these men are down in this mine.

The best guess that we are now hearing is anywhere from 10,000 feet to 13,000 feet. They have -- the rescue crews have been able to make some headway by hand. It is very slow-going, a tedious, arduous process of trying to sift through everything and get down as close as they can. Now, what they were able to do is make it about a thousand feet deeper in this mine. It is believed that they are about at 10,200 feet now.

Now, you mention these drilling sites. What they do is they drill in, and they are trying to get some kind of signal, some kind of way of communicating with these men.

Earlier, they were not able to do that. They are hoping that the one, the drill site that is currently in process, may be able to bode better for the rescue efforts. They are also doing another site, as you mentioned, at 2:00.

There has been no word from these men before now. Now, these men are also trained in giving some kind of signal, some kind of code. So they know how to do that.

The best hope, and these family members tell me these are experienced men down there. The least amount of tenure in this mine is about three years. The mean is about 23 years. And some people have decades, 35 years in this mine.

And what they are hoping that they are doing is that they have built some kind of barricade, some kind of barricade where they are getting fresh air and staying safe -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Kimberly Osais, live from West Virginia.

Kimberly, thank you.

And stay with CNN for continuing coverage of the mine rescue efforts. We'll have updates throughout the day. And then you can join "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight for the latest, 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific.

And Anderson Cooper will be live from the scene in West Virginia. That's 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific.

Another developing story we're watching, one of Washington's most powerful lobbyists has reportedly agreed to a plea deal with federal prosecutors. A source close to the negotiations tell CNN that Jack Abramoff will enter guilty pleas to charges of fraud and tax evasion.

CNN's Congressional Correspondent Ed Henry is live outside the federal district court with the very latest.

Ed, hello.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Daryn.

That's right, Jack Abramoff is with his lawyer, Abby Lowell (ph), right now in the courthouse behind me, officially cutting that plea deal you mentioned. Interesting this is playing out just across the street from the Capitol dome, where I can tell you there are a lot of lawmakers nervously watching this action. There's where Jack Abramoff once wielded so much influence. But he's now been laid low by this investigation, pleading guilty to three counts: conspiracy to commit bribery, tax evasion and mail fraud. In exchange, Abramoff likely to face much less jail time because he's expected to turn on many lawmakers and staffers, trying to tie them to this big grand jury investigation.

This plea deal lays out the gifts, in fact, that Abramoff showered on various members of Congress, trips, meals, money, also all kinds of campaign contributions in exchange, allegedly, for legislative favors. That has not been proven yet. If it is proven, it will be bribery.

And the lawmakers involved in this, including Republican Bob Ney, former House majority leader Tom DeLay, and some Democrats like Byron Dorgan, have all denied any wrongdoing in this case. But I can tell you, that Capitol dome across the street, they're not in session right now, but they are nervously watching the developments in this courthouse -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. Ed Henry, from Washington, D.C.

Thank you.

And Washington announced 2006 security grants for dozens of cities today. This year, though, there's a difference.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says the money will be dolled out based on risk. Cities will also have to outline how they will spend the money before they get it.

One official says the formula is so highly detailed this year it is zip code specific. Cities prone to natural disasters such as hurricanes will also get part of the pot. That pot, by the way, is smaller this year at $765 million.

CNN continues to monitor developments from West Virginia as rescue crews try to reach 13 coal miners trapped after an explosion. Coverage at the top of the hour on "LIVE FROM" with Kyra Phillips.

Meanwhile, YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break.

I'm Daryn Kagan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church.

(NEWSBREAK)

CLANCY: More now on what is seen by many as an important step to people statehood for the Palestinians. Campaigning officially got under way in the Palestinian parliamentary elections. But there are growing concerns now that the January 25th vote may not happen as planned at all.

John Vause reports for us from Jericho.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first official day of campaigning for an election which may or may not be held later this month. Across the West Bank in Gaza, more than 700 candidates are vying for parliament. But the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says the election will be postponed if Israel stops Palestinians in East Jerusalem from being able to vote.

HANAN ASHRAWI, INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE: The Palestinians of Jerusalem have the right to run, to elect, to exercise their Democratic rights.

VAUSE: Israel has hinted it won't allow holding in Arab East Jerusalem, because Hamas, the Islamic militant group committed to the destruction of Israel, is running candidates.

DORE GOLD, JERUSALEM PUBLIC AFFAIRS CTR.: The Israeli government said it will not interfere in the elections, but it doesn't have to assist a process in which Hamas becomes a major player in the future Palestinian government.

VAUSE: Palestinians have only held parliamentary elections once before, 10 years ago. Back then, Fatah, the party founded by the late Yasser Arafat, was swept into power. This time Fatah is in disarray, facing its first-ever real political challenge, and it's coming from the radical militant group, Hamas.

Running high in the polls, Hamas warn that postponing the election is just an attempt by Fatah to cling to power.

"We should go on with or without the participation of Jerusalem," says the leader of Hamas in Gaza.

But there is also the growing anarchy in Gaza, almost daily shootouts. Masked men have stormed government buildings. Foreign workers have been kidnapped. And on Tuesday an Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinian militants. It's so bad the Gaza police chief says he can not guarantee security come polling day.

SAEB ERAKAT, FATAH CANDIDATE: If these elections don't take place, mark my words, Palestinians will be pushed towards the Somalia (ph) model. The lawlessness and the chaos we witnessed here and there will be the story of each Palestinian street.

VAUSE: But as the election draws near, there are fears the violence and chaos will only get worse.

John Vause, CNN, Jericho.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, the White House is stepping up efforts to defend its policy on terrorism. U.S. president George W. Bush is said to take part in a meeting shortly on the Patriot Act. He is lobbying Congress to extend the anti-terror measure. He visits the Pentagon on Wednesday to give a speech on the war on terror.

CLANCY: There are new indications that top justice officials in the Bush administration were leery of the president's plans to launch a widespread anti-terror surveillance program. The controversial program effected some Americans and was conducted without warrants.

Elaine Quijano is at the White House. She has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): CNN has confirmed that a now-former top Justice Department official voiced concerned about the government's secret domestic surveillance program, concerns strong enough for him not to give his approval. That official was James Comey. He was the number two at the justice department from late 2003 until last fall.

Government officials say during at least part of his tenure as deputy attorney general, he vigorously opposed parts of the National Security Agency's surveillance program, even refusing to sign off on its renewal.

"The New York Times" reported Sunday, and officials confirmed to CNN, that Comey's objections led to a hospital visit by top Bush aides to Comey's boss, John Ashcroft, who was then the attorney general. The officials say that in March of 2004, White House Chief of Staff Andy Card, and Alberto Gonzales, who was White House counsel then, visited Ashcroft who was in the hospital for gallbladder surgery. They wanted his approval. By officials say Ashcroft was initially reluctant to give it.

The NSA program allows the government without a warrant to monitor some international communications of people in the United States, and Bush is not commenting directly on the reports of internal dissent. But the president continues to insist the NSA program is legal and necessary.

In the meantime, a spokesperson for John Ashcroft declined to comment, and attempts to reach James Comey were unsuccessful.

Elaine Quijano, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: In a new book a former CIA field commander in Afghanistan says the Pentagon turned down repeated requests for American troops to help trap Osama bin Laden in Tora Bora. Gary Berntsen battled the CIA for five months to publish his book, "Jawbreaker."

He spoke to CNN's David Ensor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In late November of 2001, the CIA sent a four-man CIA military team to hunt Osama bin Laden in eastern Afghanistan. With donkeys and 10 Afghans for security, the team scaled a 14,000-foot peak overlooking Al Qaeda's mountain retreat at Tora Bora. From there, the men used lasers to call in massive fire power from the air.

GARY BERNTSEN, AUTHOR, "JAWBREAKER": And they rained death and destruction on Al Qaeda up in those mountains, the first 56 hours alone.

ENSOR: One of the team's leaders radioed Gary Berntsen, their CIA boss in Kabul, the U.S. should send troops to make sure Bin Laden did not get away somehow.

Berntsen pleaded the case.

(on camera): How many times, and in what way did you ask for American forces?

BERNTSEN: I did it in writing, and I did it orally with the senior military commanders on the ground.

ENSOR (voice-over): But the troops to block the Pakistani border were not sent. General Tommy Franks, the regional commander of U.S. forces at the time, told Paula Zahn in 2004, he wasn't even sure bin Laden was there.

GEN. TOMMY FRANKS, FMR. CENTCOM COMMANDER: But I'm not yet quite convinced that the issues around Tora Bora, as we've discussed them, are conclusive with respect to the notion that, well, we missed him.

BERNTSEN: He was there. Of course he was there.

ENSOR (on camera): How do you know?

BERNTSEN: Well, we picked up a radio off of a dead member of Al Qaeda, and it was an open radio, unencrypted. And we were able to listen to bin Laden apologize to the people that were with him that had fallen back with him.

ENSOR: Did you ever hear Osama bin Laden's voice?

BERNTSEN: I didn't listen to it. But my linguist was listening to him on the radio on that unencrypted radio, and the linguist I had had listened to bin Laden for four years straight. Any time we wanted someone to translate something, it was him.

ENSOR: So he knew for sure.

BERNTSEN: He knew for sure. He knew for suer.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Maybe if you went back and had to do it all over again, you would have immediately sealed the borders between Afghanistan and Pakistan?

FRANKS: I might have done that.

ZAHN: Why didn't we do that?

FRANKS: Because I think not so well reported the fact that Pervez Musharraf, the president of Pakistan, had put at our request 100,000 men on that border.

BERNTSEN: Musharraf sent a lot of people along the border. I think the number may have been closer to 4,000.

ENSOR (voice-over): Not enough. Osama bin Laden and his men got through.

BERNTSEN: It's a tough area. It's a big, isolated large area. It doesn't have a lot of roads. This is not an easy thing to cover. And it's unfortunate. We had an opportunity. It would have required a bit more acceptance of risk in that case.

ENSOR: General Franks later wrote in a newspaper commentary that quote, "We did not outsource military action." "We did," he said, "rely heavily on Afghans because they knew Tora Bora.

BERNTSEN: And some of the people that we were working alongside had been on bin Laden's payroll or side months earlier. It was very difficult, very complicated. We didn't have time to vet everybody.

ENSOR: Which is why you wanted American forces out there in Tora Bora?

BERNTSEN: Exactly right.

ENSOR: Why couldn't you convince the U.S. military?

BERNTSEN: It all happened very, very fast. It all happened very, very fast. And they just wanted to rely on air power. Air power had proven effective up to that point.

ENSOR (voice-over): Though he supports President Bush and is proud of the CIA and the military. Berntsen wants to tell the story, warts and all. He submitted his manuscript, as all CIA employees must, then went ahead and published. The censored parts clearly marked. Berntsen vividly remembers the pit in his stomach when this picture was taken, as he left Afghanistan.

BERNTSEN: It was bittersweet. I didn't want to leave.

ENSOR (on camera): You wanted to get bin Laden?

BERNTSEN: I wanted to end it. I wanted to end it. But unfortunately, it's didn't work out that way.

ENSOR: Berntsen says bin Laden remains dangerous. He hopes the CIA can get him soon.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: All right.

Going back to one of our top stories, and that is the situation in Bavaria, where rescue operations at the ice skating arena that collapsed 24 hours ago may just be able to resume some time later Tuesday.

On the line from Bad Reichenhall right now is Mark Wensauer. He is the spokesman for the rescue efforts at the site.

Were you able to bring in more heavy equipment to restart the rescue operations?

MARK WENSAUER, SPOKESMAN, RESCUE EFFORTS: Yes. Hi.

Yes, we just brought in some -- a specialized company that has very heavy equipment and they just arrived. And they are building up the crane so we can lift parts of the roof to get close to the people that we're still missing.

CLANCY: Do you believe you now know who you are looking for?

WENSAUER: We have some hints who we are looking for. But I cannot tell you the names right now.

CLANCY: No, I mean, I understand that there was a woman and three children that are believed to be missing.

Had anybody -- any of the other survivors seen where they might have been?

WENSAUER: We have hints about it. But we just rely on what the dogs tell us. When the dogs show that there is someone, we try to get to that point.

CLANCY: How many -- Mr. Wensauer, how many rescuers are on the scene right now?

WENSAUER: Right now, there are about 350 people doing the work effort.

CLANCY: So, I mean, that's a lot of people that are on the scene. And you've got how many cranes now?

WENSAUER: I don't know how many cranes are there. It's about -- well, the special crane is just one. But we have more cranes there, about five.

CLANCY: So about five other cranes.

WENSAUER: Right.

CLANCY: How are the families? How is the small town of Bad Reichenhall reacting to all of this? WENSAUER: Well, of course it's a big shock for everyone, because most of the people who are from this area, most of the people know the people that got injured or maybe killed. Do you know what I'm saying?

CLANCY: Yes, certainly.

And, you know, the question we come back and, you know, finally, I mean, obviously you and the other rescuers feel that you are in a race against time now.

WENSAUER: We kind of are.

But we give our best to get these four people out, believe me.

CLANCY: I understand.

And we wish you all the very best, you and the other 350 people that are there on the scene trying to conduct this rescue operation. A special crane has now arrived, as we just heard from Bad Reichenhall and Mark Wensauer.

Mark, thank you very much for being with us.

WENSAUER: Thank you. Bye.

CLANCY: Bye bye.

Well, more news in a moment.

CHURCH: That's right.

In Pakistan, earthquake survivors are facing fresh crisis. We'll talk with the president of International Medical Corps about the situation there.

That's when we return. Just stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This home cost about $200. Point out a couple of things here. First of all, this is corrugated iron. And for many people living in this area, this could be the difference between life and death as the winter gets much colder here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

Well, heavy snowfalls and icy conditions have battered northern Pakistan. And now with relief flights grounded for a third straight day, officials say the situation is dire.

For more on the medical relief efforts in the quake-stricken region, let's bring in Nancy Aossey. She's president and CEO of International Medical Corps, a humanitarian relief agency.

Thank you so much for talking with us.

If we can start by just getting an explanation from you. Describe just how bad the situation is for these people in the mountains.

NANCY AOSSEY, PRES. & CEO, INTL. MEDICAL CORPS: Well, it's especially dire, because winter's upon us. And because winter has reached these areas, you have thousands of people exposed to the elements, especially those living in remote villages outside the hardest-hit areas.

For instance, International Medical Corps first responded and were among the first groups to respond with medical services to Balakat and Garihabibula (ph) shortly after the earthquake hit.

Since then, we have been dispatching medical teams into very remote and mountainous areas. They're just very difficult to reach. We're going by car, by donkey, by helicopter, by foot, trying to get health services to those people who are living out in the winter elements.

CHURCH: Of course.

And that's what we're seeing. Some of the most disturbing shots, of course, are people living in these very cold temperatures in tents. And, I mean, there's very little between them and the elements outside.

So what are some of those major challenges that your organization and others confront? Not only actually the distance in getting to those remote regions, but what are some of the other problems you face?

AOSSEY: Well, some of the problems is that we feel that we are in a race against time because people, children, women, they're exposed to the everyday elements of winter. They don't have enough blankets. They don't have enough clean water. They're living in areas that are just difficult to reach.

And of course we are very worried about respiratory diseases and other chronic illnesses that can set in, waterborne disease like cholera and typhoid.

So often the people who survive the, you know, first tragedy, the earthquake itself and are fortunate enough to survive, say, the injuries that come with an earthquake like that -- this is what we saw in the early days -- can often die just from common diseases, in fact, vaccine-preventable diseases.

International Medical Corps has been working very closely with other organizations and with Pakistani health authorities to implement vaccine programs for women and for children and to basically provide primary health care services for people who are -- many of them are homeless. They don't have parents. They don't have all the coping mechanisms that one would normally have to survive a winter.

But our focus is in large part preventing from a public health standpoint the kinds of deaths that would come from diseases that could be prevented if people had clean water and vaccines.

CHURCH: Indeed.

And all of these efforts, your organization and others, in the end it doesn't seem to be having a great deal of an impact, does it? What is the solution, do you think?

AOSSEY: Well, I think that organizations like International Medical Corps and others have been working under extraordinary difficult situations to get people the services that they need and that services are reaching thousands of families and thousands of people.

But as you mention, you know, there are almost 4 million people living outside of their homes that have been displaced, impacted by this, and in fact, about 400,000 of them we estimate are children under the age of 5. So we feel that we are having an impact.

The donor response has been not as quick as we had liked. Although, donors are now coming through for us. And we hope that over time, we'll be able to reach more people.

We are very worried about this situation there. And we are not having the kind of impact we'd like to have, although we are reaching people every day.

CHURCH: Indeed.

All right. Nancy Aossey, thank you so much. Appreciate you talking to us.

CLANCY: All right.

Still ahead, after we take a short break, we're going to tell you about a new -- well, some people would say it was a gizmo with a crank. It's pretty remarkable, really.

CHURCH: And it's something that could bring the Web to people in far-off places who might never have dreamed of surfing the net. Do stay with us. We'll check it out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back. Well an ambitious initiative from the folks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is putting children first.

CLANCY: Inventors there hope to put a laptop computer in the hands of millions of boys and girls all around the world. We get more from Sylvia Smith.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SYLVIA SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Surfing the Web in rural Tunisia isn't exactly easy, but it's not impossible. Remote pockets of the country's population can access the net by way of a colorful Internet bus, a mobile outpost of the worldwide Web. But a project led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology could radically reshape Internet access in the developing world, taking home computing to some of the five billion people who aren't yet on the Web.

Nicknamed the "Green Machine," MIT launched this laptop at the U.N.-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis. The foldable, lime green computer costs less than $100 per unit. It's virtually indestructible, and it's standard-sized batteries don't always need a power cable.

MARY LOU JEPSEN, ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD: This is a little dynamo. As you crank the handle, you create energy and you transfer that energy to charge up the batteries.

SMITH: It's an innovation that's been designed specifically for children.

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: These robust, versatile machines will enable kids to become more active in their own land.

SMITH: The "green machine" isn't just a laptop. It's also a television, a games console, a reading device. It even has a microphone and speaker allowing it to be used as a mobile phone.

But what's truly revolutionary is its ability to enable the organic growth of the Web, creating wireless communities, and empowering a new Internet generation.

NICHOLAS NEGROPONTE, MIT MEDIA LABORATORY: The laptop will be a mesh network. And by that I mean each laptop communicates with its nearest neighbors so that they all make this mesh that allows 1,000 kids or 2,000 kids to create a network amongst themselves. And any one or two kids are connected back to the Internet, they are all connected.

SMITH: The device moves away from traditional cutting edge technology, focusing instead of what Nicholas Negroponte calls the trailing edge.

NEGROPONTE: There's something called Moore's Law which was commonly quoted by technologists of how the complexity of integrated circuits would double every 18 months and has actually done that for the past 30 years. And Moore was correct, but the complexity has never been used to lower the price.

SMITH: The "green machine" isn't just cheap by design, but also in terms of its production values. The $100 laptop isn't yet in production. And for now, the developing world will continue to rely on government initiatives like the Internet bus.

JEPSEN: We've solved this missing link that allow ifs flood of everything else to happen. But, we still have a lot of work before us.

SMITH: In Tunis, this is Sylvia Smith.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Well, we're marking progress.

CHURCH: Yes, fantastic. Well, thanks for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. This is CNN.

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