Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Helping the People of Haiti; Security Challenge; Race against Time; President Obama Wants Taxpayer Money Back; Day Three of Recovery and Relief Efforts in Haiti; Haiti Hospitals Lacking Medical Supplies
Aired January 15, 2010 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Our special coverage of the earthquake in Haiti continues in the "CNN NEWSROOM" and here's Heidi Collins.
Hi, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, guys. Good morning to you and good morning to you, everybody. That's right. Our coverage continues of the disaster in Haiti this morning.
It looks like the aid is coming in, but it's really still not getting out to the people who need it most. Well, we're talking about the logistical problems, and also about an arrival today that could actually turn out to be a big help.
And then look at this. A quake survivor giving an interview to CNN while still trapped in the rubble of a five-story building. His family helps him out. It turns out a car may have actually saved his life.
And also, you remember this gal from yesterday. We talked with her live on the air looking for her mother. We'll tell you what happens as our guest's prayers are answered. She still has questions about her mother, though, in Haiti.
It is Friday, January 15th, I'm Heidi Collins, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
It is a total disaster. A grim description from a food agency manager after a starving group rushed his bare offices in Port-au- Prince.
Here now the very latest developments from Haiti for you. The Red Cross estimates between 45,000 and 50,000 people were killed in Tuesday's 7.0 earthquake. Aid distribution, as we have already said this morning, is a major concern.
The capital's airport turned away civilian aid flights for eight hours yesterday because of a lack of space. And the city's port heavily damaged. Many roads impassable.
As we also said, the aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson is scheduled to arrive today in Haiti. That carrier's 19 helicopters will help aid workers get supplies into those who need them most. So obviously, the need for that aid is immediate. It's arriving at the airport, but there are still very serious problems trying to get the food and water and medical supplies out into the devastated city.
CNN Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence has been watching the efforts there at the airport. He's joining us now from Port-au- Prince.
Hi there, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Heidi, yes, I'm told that a lot of this aid will start to get out into the communities very soon. What they're trying to do now is working out the logistics with a lot of the Haitian officials and some of the aid agencies to figure out exactly at what points in the city need to be set up as possible staging areas.
One of the issues that we saw the other day, a police car pulled up with sandwiches, bottled water, and had a lot of food. The crowd started coming around the police car, they were handing out the sandwiches, handing out the food, a lot of people said they hadn't eaten over a day.
But at some point, he ran out. And at that point, there was still pushing and pushing closer and closer to the car. You started to see some of the women, some of the older people started to get pushed to the back. People got a little frustrated.
That was just a crowd of about 30 people. The key would be what happens if it's a crowd of 300 people or 3,000 people. So they're trying to work out those logistics to make sure, not only the food is here, that they have the right personnel to put that in the right neighborhood and have the right, perhaps, security teams to make sure it's sort of an ordinarily distribution system and doesn't just -- you know, you generate any chaos -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. Understood. And we've been talking about it pretty much since all of this happened. We knew that they were going to be logistical challenges in all of this, Chris, but yes, I do see a couple of helicopters obviously behind you. We're hearing more and more about more aid coming in.
What will be, if you could put your finger on it, the focus for today?
LAWRENCE: Well, I think the focus today, from everyone we've talked about, is pushing that aid out to other people. I'm just going to step away. You see -- what we've seen out here is a much bigger U.S. military presence.
So we've seen a lot of army soldiers, a lot of airmen from the U.S. Air Force. In fact, I was just talking to someone who said there are several surgical teams that are out here. They are in the process of starting to get staged. They already had patient requests from people in downtown Port-au-Prince. And what they're going to be doing over the next couple of hours is making sure they have the surgical set up and then working with the folks downtown to get those patients out here to the airport so the surgeons can actually start to be treating people.
One of the key issues we brought up yesterday was the problem at the port. You saw how it was just completely damaged. Structurally unsound. That was keeping a lot of the aid from being offloaded, because you couldn't offload it on to the port.
COLLINS: Yes.
LAWRENCE: Well, we just spoke with the U.S. ambassador to Haiti, he said they might have a solution now. They found another pier about 20 miles north of the city. It's a lot smaller, can't handle the boat. But he said our first inspection, it looks to be relatively undamaged. And they are going to be setting a team up there to check it out, perhaps start unloading there, and then driving it down into the city.
COLLINS: Wow. OK.
LAWRENCE: Heidi?
COLLINS: Well, at least that's one of the options among many, I'm sure, that they are trying to find and trying to consider today and moving forward.
Chris Lawrence, out Pentagon correspondent for us this morning, live from Port-au-Prince. Thanks, Chris.
Here's what we know about some of the other aid efforts. Now there were reports that United Nations food warehouses in Haiti's capital were actually looted. The World Food Program now tells CNN those reports were false.
U.N. workers are now trying to get enough ready-to-eat meals to feed about two million people for one month. Those should be arriving soon.
And the international community has pledged hundreds of dollars in aid, some have also sent military aid to the area to help with distribution and medical care.
As you know by now, time is not on the side of emergency workers scrambling to save any survivor still trapped nearly three days after the earthquake. But amid the desperation there are signs of hope.
A 21-year-old man pinned under a school building since Tuesday was rescued by his family. A police car which caught the brunt of the collapse, the five-story building, may have turned out to save his life.
A search and rescue team from Iceland was able to save a 30-year- old woman by pulling her down through a hole in the ceiling of a collapsed marketplace. The woman had been entombed for 50 hours in total darkness, but said she never lost her faith.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first thing I did was to think of my parents, because I did not want them to lose me. I'm the only child. And the second thing, I never stopped, I never stopped once praying. And I'm going to tell you something, I'm someone who prays a lot, and now I am very grateful that I never lost faith.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: A terrified 11-year-old girl cries out. Her right leg stuck under a metal bar with no electric saw in sight. The rest of that story, we're going to have it for you coming up in a just a few minutes. So make sure you stick around for this one.
Tons of aid and equipment are arriving by the hour, but the challenge, of course, now how to get it to the people who need it while protecting both supplies and relief workers.
CNN's Jim Clancy has been talking about this all morning long. He's over at our Haiti desk now.
So, Jim, where do we stand on that? Because it is obviously such a delicate balance in the wake of all of this.
JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, you've got that absolutely right. And people are already talking in Port-au-Prince about the growing levels of frustration, talk of people building barricades with human bodies to protest the fact that everyone's talking about food aid but none of it is coming. Security fears are increasing.
Now you heard from Chris Lawrence earlier, he's down here at the airport talking about the situation there. I want to show you some of the latest video we've got of U.S. troops that are coming in.
However, I am being told that those troops will not be deployed into the city until -- well, perhaps Monday, this is what we're hearing from the White House right now. They may prove critical because the fact of the matter is the (INAUDIBLE), the police in Port- au-Prince, have abandoned their post largely.
It's believed that many of them returned to try to help their own loved ones, their own family members who may have been victims in this earthquake. We heard a little bit earlier from Lt. Gen. P.K. Keene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. P.K. KEENE, DEPUTY CMDR., U.S. SOUTHERN COMMAND: We're working in conjunction with the U.N. forces and the (INAUDIBLE) that are here. We are cognizant of the increasing concerns about security. Up to this point, we have not seen a great deal of insecurity, but clearly that is a concern and we will work with the government in Haiti and the national police to deal with it as best we can.
But our priority is getting -- right now is getting rescue efforts, which is already on the ground, have been for several days, and getting medical treatment and working with the government and the international organization to provide that much needed relief, aid to the people of Haiti.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLANCY: Heidi, you can't have security unless you get the food aid distributed and you can't get the food aid distributed without the security. Something has to be worked out.
You mentioned earlier that the World Food Program warehouse that holds so much food was not looted, but the reports, the rumors of that, were so believable in the context of what's happening on the ground, the frustrations on the ground in Haiti.
I just got off the telephone with the World Food Program. They made it clear to me that they already opened up some feeding centers. They're going to try to open up more. They're using U.N. security staff in order to get it all done.
Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: Yes, very good. All right, thanks so much, Jim Clancy. We'll check back with you a little bit later on.
Meanwhile, you can, of course, help if you want to. Log on to our Web site at CNN.com/impactyourworld. There, you will find a list of agencies providing emergency relief. You'll also see a "Find your loved ones" module with the State Department's toll free number and a link to the iReport "Looking for loved ones" photo gallery. Make sure you check all of that out.
Amazing rescues. Desperate Haitians clawing through debris with their bare hands in order to reach survivors.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a rare eclipse happening earlier today, or for them -- well, for us last night, I suppose. We'll show you those pictures. And is there any sort of connection between what happens with the sun and the moon and what happens with the earthquake in Haiti. We'll discuss that in just a few minutes. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The still photos still just really amazing to watch as all of them coming into us and around the world. What we've been able to see is just incredible out of Haiti.
It is a race against time, though, for emergency workers in Haiti now. Experts and ordinary people alike are struggling to reach survivors still trapped underneath mounds of rubble.
CNN's Ivan Watson got a firsthand look at some of the success stories.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sarah, can you hear me?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rescue workers call out to a woman trapped under rubble.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll tell you exactly what the room number is, and you'll be able -- you'll know exactly where you are at.
WATSON: This is all that's left of what was once the posh five- story Montana Hotel, a place frequented by foreigners and diplomats.
Professional rescue teams have started arriving here from Chile, France and the U.S. David Barlow of Fairfax, Virginia says his squad made contact with a woman named Sarah, trapped somewhere near what was the hotel bar.
DAVID BARLOW, RESCUE SQUAD LEADER: She indicated to us that she was just trapped. She wasn't pinned by anything. She was nothing actually holding her down. She was trapped in a void and that she was OK. So it's just a matter of us getting to her.
WATSON (on camera): How critical is this period right now for people like this one?
BARLOW: Obviously the first 24 to 48 hours is critical after any incident.
WATSON (voice-over): But professional rescue workers are hard to find elsewhere in devastated Port-au-Prince. All too often, ordinary Haitians have to pull survivors out of the rubble by themselves.
At the ruins of a government office Thursday morning, a team of volunteers pulled out two men -- injured but alive -- 36 hours after the quake.
"The main gate fell on us," this survivor says. "A cinder block fell on my head. My arm and leg are broken."
The rescue team here consists of local residents. Volunteers with no emergency training. Everywhere you go in the city, desperate Haitians are asking for help.
(On camera): OK. She's telling me that she's a single mother with one daughter. And the daughter is trapped here right now. She's talking, and there's nobody out here to help her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Help me, my brother.
WATSON (Voice-over): At this house, we found 11-year-old Anaika San Luis. For two days, her right leg has been pinned under a metal bar. A neighbor with a hacksaw struggling to cut her free. Thursday afternoon she was terrified and in pain, but also eating and drinking. To save Anaika, the volunteer say all they need is an electric saw.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COLLINS: Boy, oh, boy. It is an incredible story. Our Ivan Watson filing that report for us. We're going to talk with him live coming up in just a moment. We're back in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Ivan Watson is joining us now live once again from Haiti. He's been telling us about the incredible story of this 11- year-old girl who was trapped underneath all of that rubble since that earthquake happened.
Ivan, tell us the rest of the story now. What's happened?
WATSON: Well, little Anaika, she was actually finally released from what was basically becoming a death trap. All it took for the volunteers was an electric saw and a gas powered generation, because of course the electricity is cut out across the city.
They succeeded in cutting her free and rushing her for medical care. But her injuries are grave to her leg and the family fears that they may actually have to amputate it to save her.
A big challenge for her, even though she's crossed one major hurdle, is surviving these serious injuries in a city where the hospitals are definitely overwhelmed by the sheer masses of victims.
COLLINS: Yes, no question about that. Ivan, tell us where you are right now?
WATSON: OK. I'm in a square in downtown Port-au-Prince. And this is where thousands of people sleep at night because their homes have been destroyed. And at night you can hear them, some of them singing and praying.
But it's a very difficult situation. You see entire families here forced to sleep out under the stars. Over here, there's a family with a father named Lamar. He has two injured hands right behind this tent over here.
And it's really sad to see. There's a girl with a swollen face right now. There are injured people who barely survived the earthquake, now sleeping under the stars and camping out here. And it's the third day, now -- Heidi.
COLLINS: It's just an incredible scene to see everybody out there with pretty much no shelter. I know it's pretty hot, too. Something like 90, 95 degrees, which I imagine is another challenge, one that they deal with on a regular basis in that country.
But I think one other things, Ivan, that you've been able to share with us is how so many ordinary Haitians, you know, without any rescue training, certainly none professional, have come to be heroes of their own, doing everything that they can, just clawing through the debris trying to get to survivors.
Tell us more about what you have seen. WATSON: Well, you know, there is not -- the rescue services, the medical services here are completely overwhelmed. And though some professionals have come in from outside, the Americans from Fairfax, Virginia. These are professionals. They are trained to deal with these cases.
Mostly it's ordinary people like the people around me who -- they find out, they hear somebody in their neighborhood screaming from underneath the rubble, and then they come running out to try to save them.
And they're working with their bare hands. And that little girl, there were no professionals there. Nobody was trained in first aid there. Nobody was trained in how to extricate somebody from a concrete death trap.
They were all improvising, working out on the spot, working day and night to try to free these people. And we saw that scene played out over and over again yesterday.
And I imagine it's taking place today still in pockets of Port- au-Prince where some survivors may be clinging to their lives right now, despite being buried underneath rubble.
COLLINS: Ivan Watson for us live from Port-au-Prince. People doing everything they can and what they have to to save lives. Ivan, thank you.
We'll take a quick break. We're back in a moment in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: President Obama puts big banks on notice saying they need to pay back every penny of bailout money. Hear how he plans to make them ante up.
For giver me, we are going to hear a little bit more about this right now. Stephanie Elam is standing by, saying hello? Are we not going to talk about this further? I was not aware.
What's the scoop? How on earth is he going to be able to do that, the president?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi. This is his new plan that we've heard about yesterday from the president coming out and saying -- some people say the harshest language he's used so far when talking about the banks and the bailout money here.
But it's called the Financial Crisis Responsibility fee, and it's really three years before President Obama would need to even deal with a plan to recoup this money, any losses from the $700 billion TARP plan.
This was all part of the law that at some point the president could do that within a five year period. But doing it earlier than necessarily. But you know what? You were going to toss that bit of sound that we have from the president. Let's go ahead and listen to what he said yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We want our money back, and we're going to get it. And that's why I'm proposing a Financial Crisis Responsibility fee to be imposed on major financial firms until the American people are fully compensated for the extraordinary assistance they provided to Wall Street.
If these companies are in good enough shape to afford massive bonuses, they are surely in good enough shape to afford paying back every penny to taxpayers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELAM: All right. So let's take a look at what is coming out in this plan. We are looking at a tax that would be in place for 10 years, if not longer, depending on just how long it would take to get this money back.
If passed by Congress it would take effect June 30th and it would raise $117 billion over 12 years. That's the actual project cost of the TARP program, that they're saying that they may just actually lose.
So that's money they want to recoup there. And that's down from the August estimates of $341 billion, just to keep in mind there. So it's been truncated.
Also, this is going to target firms that are making or that have over $50 billion in assets. And over 60 percent will be paid by the 10 largest firms. So the idea being that the heaviest tax will be going to the largest firm who have taken on the most debt and then led to the crisis that we saw in 2008.
Also I can point out to you, Heidi, that the companies that will be exempt from this, that could potentially fit that category would be Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and also Chrysler and GM, basically because their recovery has not been as strong and also the way their assets are structured there.
Obviously, not a surprise to hear that the banks are objecting to this basically saying that, look, some of us -- most of these big banks have already repaid their TARP money plus interest, and this is just going to hamper any sort of economic recovery, although the Obama administration points out it's really hard for you to lean back on that argument when these big bonuses are going out this February period.
So obviously that's going to become a little bit of a debate here with the banks. But overall, though...
COLLINS: I think probably a big debate about that.
ELAM: A very big debate about.
COLLINS: Yes.
ELAM: But overall, it is going to be aimed at these companies that took on too much risk that led to this problem, and this is what the Obama administration wants to make, the taxpayers get their money back.
COLLINS: Well, and that's the question. How do they know whether or not this isn't going to get passed on to the consumer?
ELAM: Well, that was a fear before. We previously heard Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner saying that he was not so big on a global tax on these companies because -- then it could get passed on to the consumer. But now the administration is basically saying that these companies aren't going to want to pass this tax on because there's a lot of companies out there that won't have this tax, and so they can lose business off to their non-tax competitors in this arena.
Obviously, we'll have to see how this is all planned out in the Obama administration's financial budget which will be out -- for 2011, that will be out in February. So a lot of people looking to see what's going to happen here.
But it's interesting to note, not a lot of complaints coming out. People who normally are not for big tax, really keeping quiet, because they don't want to seem like they're supporting the bank, which clearly have a PR problem at this point.
COLLINS: Hmm. All right, Stephanie Elam for us. Thanks, Stephanie.
Let's head over to the Severe Weather Center now where I almost heard it, that moon sound that we hear when we get the space pictures. We're talking about an eclipse, right?
MARCIANO: Oh yes, yes.
COLLINS: You know that...
MARCIANO: I didn't realize we had a sound for the moon stuff.
COLLINS: Oh no. I think it comes to us that way.
MARCIANO: Excellent.
COLLINS: Yes. See? I can't believe I know more about this than you.
MARCIANO: Well, listen.
COLLINS: Standard.
MARCIANO: Exactly.
(LAUGHTER) MARCIANO: Let's talk about the moon and the sun. And them being lined up. Big time solar eclipse earlier today, or I should say last night for us, earlier today for folks who live in parts of India and China and even Kenya saw some of this.
It was the longest solar eclipse that we're going to see in the century. It lasted 11 minutes. And that is rare, my friends. So that's always a mind boggling picture. And people of all sorts of spiritual-ness kind of get ramped up about this, and it means different things for different people. But it's certainly pretty pictures.
It does have -- we could tie it into the Haiti thing because there have been arguments by different types of scientists that say, you know, a full moon or a new moon, you know, they create more of a pull, gravitational pull, in conjunction with the sun on our tides.
And some say well, during a full moon or a new moon, that will trigger an earthquake. There's really no scientific basis for that, we do know that the earth can trigger moonquakes. But the earth is much larger than the moon.
Anyway, just always food for thought. And we are very close, obviously, to a new moon when this quake happened.
We are not seeing much in the wake of aftershock activity today. We've seen two in the last days so that's good news.
COLLINS: Yes.
MARCIANO: But most of the damage has been done. And then in one other slice of somewhat good news, we're starting to see a little bit more in the runway planes going into Haiti today, Heidi, but as you know, from the reports on the ground, the airport there is struggling to say the least, logistically.
COLLINS: Yes. Absolutely. All right, Rob, thanks so much. We'll check back later on.
ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.
COLLINS: Let's get you to Wall Street now. New signs that the recovery is on track. A giant in the tech industry and a financial powerhouse are each reporting multibillion dollar profits now.
Susan Lisovicz joining us just as that opening bell rings on a Friday.
Hi there, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Perfect timing as always. Good morning, Heidi, to the final trading session of the week. The hope is that today's news will set the tone for corporate America, and what we have to hear over the next few weeks.
But we have seen some caution in the first few seconds of trading. This as the first major bank reports its earnings for the final three months of the year. JPMorgan Chase says it made more than $3 billion, thank you. Its investment banking and trading business did well because of last year's stock market rally. But CEO Jamie Dimon dialed back expectations a bit for this year. He said that, even though JPMorgan is seeing some stability in delinquencies, credit costs are high and so is unemployment. The banks set aside $7 billion from future loan losses.
Meanwhile, Intel made more than $2 billion in the last quarter. That's nearly ten times more than the year before. But the comparison we should say is an easy one because the end of 2008 was when the financial crisis really came to a head. In addition, a healthy, holiday season pushed up revenue by 30 percent. And Intel, the big chip giant, plans to hire.
Finally, Chrysler will advertise in next month's Super Bowl. Notable because it's the only American automaker to do so. Super Bowl spots, of course, typically go for several million dollars. Chrysler says it wants to show customers that it's still here, with our tax dollars, of course. I mean, I just might want to throw that in.
After hitting fresh 15-month highs, yesterday, well, the Dow is going back just a little bit, down 16 points. The NASDAQ, meanwhile, is up four.
Heidi?
COLLINS: All right. Susan Lisovicz, We'll check back next hour. Thank you.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome.
COLLINS: Chaos at the airport in Port-Au-Prince. Evacuees clamoring to leave, and a whole lot of other logistical problems. We've got a live report, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The U.S. getting help from Cuba now. Here's what we know. On day three of the recovery in Haiti, Cuba is allowing its airspace to be used for medical evacuation flights to the United States. That move will reduce the time for those flights.
A British Airways plane that can carry 50 tons of supplies will be ready to fly to Haiti tomorrow. More than 20 countries have offered or sent aid. But logistical problems persist in getting the aid from the airport to the people, of course, who need it. Many roads are impassable. Gasoline, short supply. Today is the scheduled arrival of the "USS Carl Vinson" should help that delivery problem. The ship has 19 helicopters onboard.
Sometimes we forget how large the vessels really are.
Sometimes the waiting and the not knowing is, of course, the hardest thing in a time like this. Here at CNN, we have made it our mission to try to connect you to your loved ones. CNN's Betty Nguyen is over there in the NEWSROOM today trying to gather some of that information together.
Betty, good morning to you. I know there are obviously, still, so very many people that are missing, and their loved ones trying to find out where they are.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thousands, indeed. And so we have a great resource here at CNN to help people who are looking for their missing loved ones. All you have to do is go to CNN.com/HaitiMissing. And what that will do is bring you to this site right here. It says looking for lost loved ones in Haiti.
And if you will see down here, we have pictures, names, descriptions of thousands. We got 344 pages of people that are looking for their loved ones. Now the easiest way for you if you are looking for someone in particular is to go to this search panel right here, and type in a name.
Also, you can also type in the word, found. And that will take you to the found page where we actually have some 40 odd pages of people who indeed have been found in the earthquake. Here's that page. For example, you can see list after list of people that have been found.
One in particular that I want to point out is daddy's little girl. I love the story. A 2-year-old little girl who was missing during the earthquake. And we have thankfully through the site been able to find her. And he says, yes, we received a call early this morning that they are safe and sound. Thank you for all the prayers and support.
So this indeed is working. The key to it, though, as you input that information on your missing loved one is to make sure that you provide some kind of a contact information, whether that be an e-mail or cell phone number or something, so that when that person is found, there is some way to contact you and let you know.
And, indeed, people have been finding their loved ones by the hour, which is wonderful. I want to show you a woman in Florida who got word that her husband is still alive by watching CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMBER FEASTER, HUSBAND WAS MISSING IN HAITI: We actually saw his partner on CNN news, and that's when he had mentioned his name on the news report saying that we are OK. Jacob Feaster is OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: That is just such wonderful news for families at home. And many times, you know, in cases like this, major disasters, there is no communication. So any little bit helps.
And in fact we were able to get a little bit of sound from her husband, indeed, who was describing exactly what was happening right after the earthquake. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACOB FEASTER, SURVIVED HAITI EARTHQUAKE: Seconds after everything went off and everybody came outside, there was this whaling and people crying and carrying their children and carrying their grandparents and all the injured. And they're crying and screaming. It didn't stop for hours and hours.
My kids! My kids! I love them, and probably read them a bedtime story, probably will wake them up. But my wife and kids, you know, all my friends and family, everybody that prayed for us, we thank you so much. We thank, everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Absolutely. Now you have a family united.
And, hopefully, through this site on CNN, we can unite more families. All you have to do is go to CNN.com/HaitiMissing.
Heidi?
COLLINS: All right, Betty, thanks so much.
We're going to take a quick break. We'll be back right here in the CNN NEWSROOM in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: As we continue to follow developments out of Haiti this morning, we do want to bring you the other latest stories that we are watching today as well.
U.S. Intelligence officials are reportedly on the trail of at least seven al Qaeda operatives in Yemen. From information gained since the attempted airplane bombing on Christmas Day, there is concern terrorists may be looking to strike in the U.S. again using something other than airplanes.
NBA star Gilbert Arenas is due in court for a hearing this afternoon. He's been charge with a felony gun violation after admitting he drew guns in the Washington Wizards locker room last month. He says he meant no harm, and was not aware of the city's strict gun laws.
And how can we forget the miracle on the Hudson? It's been exactly one year since we saw that U.S. Airways plane in the river after geese flew into both engines. All 155 people aboard survived. And, today, many of the passengers are joining Captain Chesley Sullenberger and his crew in New York today to celebrate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Hospitals collapsed in Haiti. People injured in the earthquake are hoping for help in a place with few if any medical supplies.
CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta visited one of the hospitals that is still standing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What you're looking at is a makeshift mortuary in one of the few hospitals that's still up and running here in Port-au-Prince, if you can call it that.
Over the past few hours we've seen dozens of body come out of this mortuary and taken to a truck where they're taken to another ground. The bodies not even being identified.
So much of the attention is now focused over here, on patients who are alive and in desperate need of medical care. Want to try to walk through here, give you a very different perspective on what's happening in the aftermath of this natural disaster in Haiti.
Literally dozens of patients just lining the halls here. You have patients on cardboard boxes like this. They hardly have any resources. Just trying to care for patients like him. And when I say no resources, I mean no gauze, hardly any bandages and very few IVs. To get antibiotics, to get pain medication is a very difficult thing to do.
Lots of types of injuries here after an earthquake. You see a lot of crush injuries. You see penetrating injuries. You see this gal who we talked to earlier who has a broken leg, and they're literally using some Ace wrap and a wooden board to try and keep her leg stable. This is jungle medicine. It is primitive medicine. It is medicine that can sometimes work but hardly ever does.
You see, as well, more cardboard boxes over here. You see another splint. Again, using a wooden board like that to try and offer a little bit of stability. They're trying to take that off right now, trying to examine the leg. The man that's doing that is not a doctor. It's his friend.
Let's keep walking through here. As we make our way out of the hospital, again, one of the few that are up and running, you can just see how busy this place is. This is where you want to be. This is an actual hospital.
Out here is where things get even more challenging. This is where you have areas of makeshift tents. Patients in these little cloth tents who are brought here because there's really nothing else that can be done for them. They have no -- no resources at all to be able to take care of them, so the health-care personnel bring these patients out here to try and get them out of the way so they can try and take care of more patients in the hospital.
To walk through here, you probably never have seen anything quite like this. Stretchers outside, under trees, IVs hanging from trees, that is what is necessary here, that is what is happening here in Haiti, in Port-au-Prince. Outside on the streets, patients know about these place and they keep coming here. Just take a look at the long waiting line. People are waiting to be seen. They're going to continue waiting for hours and days.
Even as I was telling you about the patients waiting outside, another truck pulls up and as can you tell, this is the reality for a lot of people. These are two patients who are deceased. They are brought to the hospital as their loved ones simply looking for a place, something to do with their bodies.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: And Sanjay is joining us now live from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Boy, Sanjay, I can only imagine. We try to do our very best at bringing these pictures and bringing the truth of what's happening there in Port-au-Prince, to the viewers at home. But you really can still only imagine to what people like you are seeing there on the ground.
GUPTA: You know, what's so striking, is there is a real -- a lack of basic supplies, Heidi. And I think that's what's frustrating for a lot of people as well. The good news first because I think the supplies are -- a lot of it at least -- are at the airport. Getting those supplies to the places in critical need to the hospitals like the one you just saw, that's really key here more than anything else.
We are starting to see some relief workers trickle into these hospitals as well; another piece of good news. We've got to pair those two things together. Relief workers, supplies, that's really what's going to be able to take care of these patients.
But you know, you start to feel that the tide is turning a little bit here, some heavy machinery out front this morning trying to clear some of the rubbles. Even as I'm talking to you, you hear people going by with loud speakers telling people specifically what to do, giving them instructions. A little bit more organization today as compared to yesterday and certainly the day before.
COLLINS: Well, good. That is terrific news.
And we keep hearing more about U.S. and comforts obviously, the hospital that is -- the navy puts out, and tries to help with all of this, the USS Carl Vinson coming in with a lot of supplies to, and just a matter always of trying to get it exactly to the people who need it most.
Sanjay, I'm glad you're there. We'll check back later on. Thank you.
GUPTA: Today, for one second, all the way from Haiti, I know today is your last day, if I could say and I know today is your last day and we're just all thinking of you and wishing you well and we'll miss you a great deal Heidi. COLLINS: Well, thank you, thank you.
Well, listen, a lot more important things obviously going on. And as I said before, I appreciate that. And I'm glad that you are there. We'll continue to bring your stories back to the viewers. Thanks Sanjay.
Right now, trying to care for and treat the wounded in Port-au- Prince is definitely a challenge. And oops, excuse me, an orphanage is now a makeshift triage. There are very fewer workers and very little supplies.
Bill Manaserro a missionary and orphanage director is joining us now via Skype. Bill thanks so much for being with us. I know you are in the throes of everything, trying to protect the children and of course, get them what they need.
Tell us the situation from where you are right now.
BILL MANASERRO, MISSIONARY, CHILD HOPE INTERNATIONAL: Yes, well, as you mention, we are an orphanage here that has a little clinic that we serve the local community. And we have had just hundreds of people show up, people in the community, these people who recently that have been dug up from rubble that's collapsed on their homes and families and so forth.
And we have a couple of nurses and staff but we've had and a fair amount of medical personnel in the community just show up. So we've had a pretty steady flow of doctors coming in.
Right now the big need is med supplies and we were just -- there is no way to get things. And everyone is sort of raiding their medicine cabinet, so to speak, just to be able to get what they need to do the job here.
So we're hoping somehow to get in contact with some of the relief organizations that have come in here, flown in, to get the supplies needed to help people.
COLLINS: How are the kids doing?
MANASERRO: They are amazing. We've got some great kids here. A lot of them have rubber gloves on and masks and they are going up and assisting the medical personnel and cleaning up and just trying to keep the place as close as to a hospital-type situation as you can, considering the limitations.
But they are wonderful and we've had some great volunteers that have come in keeping the kids amused. They're too afraid to go back into their home, although the home hasn't been damaged anywhere near most of the houses around. They're all sleeping outside on our little soccer field out here...
COLLINS: Yes.
MANASERRO: ... and they'd rather stay out there than sleep inside.
COLLINS: Well, Bill, we sure do appreciate the work that you're doing there with those kids. I know they love you a lot and wish you the very best of luck.
Before we let you go, I want to give you an opportunity to say via Skype what you need the most right now.
MANASERRO: Yes. I think the most immediate need is the medical supplies. And again...
COLLINS: Yes.
MANASERRO: ... any way we can get in contact with anybody that's on the ground that's come in with the relief, we'd love a truck just to arrive here with just all the basic med supplies that are necessary right now. Medical personnel, I mean we could use volunteers and so forth to come in and help out as well and we've got a lot of broken bones. We've had a number of amputations and other things. So we're just looking for people that can step in and help.
Our next thing on the list is food. We stocked up before this happened. We're blessed in that regard. But we know we're going to need more food in a short time as well.
COLLINS: All right, Bill. Well, hopefully everyone is listening that is in contact with those that can make a difference for you and we appreciate you coming on the air. We will stay in touch with you and make sure that you get what you need to the best of our abilities.
Bill Manaserro, thank you once again.
Right now we want to get to some other news out to you that we're just getting into the CNN NEWSROOM regarding Yemen. We're going to tell you a little bit more about several al Qaeda leaders that have been killed. We've got the details coming in, trickling in, if you will. We'll tell you about it when we come back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: I want to get this news out to you now as we are getting it in here to the CNN newsroom. This is regarding Yemen and some of the activities that are going on, on the ground there. Again, this information coming to us from Yemen's ministry of defense; we're learning that there were air raids that took place targeting al Qaeda leaders in the northern part of the country and apparently six al Qaeda leaders were killed in those air raids. They were located in, again, northern Yemen.
So we are continuing to follow all of this. One of those people that was apparently killed here is being called a top military commander. So we will once again continue to follow this story for you and bring you any information as we get it here regarding Yemen and the six al Qaeda leaders that were killed. Meanwhile, time for a look at some of the other stories we are following today. We want to check in with some of our correspondents to see what they're working on for our next hour. I want to begin with Betty Nguyen -- hi Betty.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there Heidi. I'm going to help folks out there who are looking for missing loved ones in Haiti. There are thousands of them out there missing. If you are looking for a loved one, we're going to show you a resource not only where you can put that information out there but where you can also find them, so stay tuned for that.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And I'm Rob Marciano at CNN Severe Weather Center. We'll talk about the forecast for Haiti, a little bit of the U.S., plus what's happening on the other side of the world or what happened earlier today on the other side of the world. A rare solar eclipse, the longest one we'll see this century. That's all coming up next hour -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Ok. Very good. Thanks, guys.
Also a real quick thing I'd like to say to you as you just maybe heard from Dr. Sanjay Gupta. I want to take a very short minute to say goodbye to you today. I will be leaving CNN.
Almost eight years of broadcasting to you from the field and from almost every anchor chair at the network. Somehow you have been gracious enough at home to find me wherever I was and took the time to watch, so I really appreciate that. And at the risk of sounding really cheesy without a doubt I will miss you, the viewers, the most.
So we will be back with much, much more important things in this world; updating you on some of the success stories out of Haiti in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's alive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Elation turns to despair.
It is a story perhaps sadly repeating itself for some families looking for information about loved ones in Haiti. A Massachusetts family flew to Florida hoping for a reunion with their daughter injured in the earthquake. But they found that the girl who was rescued was not Brittany Gangle (ph).
A spokesperson for the girl's college blamed the mixup on bad intelligence from the rescue team hired to bring students and faculty members back from a humanitarian mission. There is still no word on Brittany, but we do have an update on a mother missing in Haiti. We'll have that story for you just a little later on in the hour.
