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American Morning
Supplies Slow to Reach Haiti Survivors; Haiti's Airport Overwhelmed; Rescuers Race Against Time to Save Lives in Haiti; World Vision Relief Efforts for Haiti; Inmates Crushed During Escape; "Please Let Her Know that I Love Her"
Aired January 15, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Friday morning to you. Thanks very much for joining us on the Most News in the Morning. It is the 15th of January. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. We're using the global resources of CNN this morning to get coverage of the crisis in Haiti like no other network can match this morning. We're live in Port-au-Prince.
A chaotic scene at the airport there. Life-saving supplies from around the world are now piling up on the tarmac, slow to reach the victims of Tuesday's deadly earthquake. And the airport, which is now ground zero for the enormous relief effort, is simply overwhelmed.
ROBERTS: Every second counts in the frantic search for survivors. Our cameras follow rescue teams who can see, speak, even touch the victims. But can they save them? We're live with the stories that will no doubt tug at your heartstrings this morning.
CHETRY: And millions of Americans opening their hearts and their wallets to help earthquake victims, but there are still a lot of charities out there. And the question is, are they legitimate? How much of your money goes to the people who need it?
Alina Cho is going to be joining us to tell us which charities are doing the most good and how long it takes for your donation to make a difference?
ROBERTS: There is no letup to the misery in Haiti this morning. As one rescue worker put it, the smell of death is everywhere. Here's the latest.
The Red Cross now estimating that 50,000 people died in the quake. That number is expected to climb higher though. Recovery teams forced to use bulldozers to clear corpse after corpse from the sidewalks of Port-au-Prince. Food, clothing and medical supplies have begun to arrive at the international airport, but that airport is too small, too badly damaged to handle all of the traffic. Life-saving supplies painfully slow to reach the millions who need them so desperately.
Aircraft filled with food and medicine unable to land forced to circle the one-runway airport or even in some cases turn back and fuel in very short supply once they land there. More critical aid is arriving by sea. The USS Vinson will reach Haiti later on today, with heavy lift helicopters, medical supplies and water systems on board. But Haiti's port is in ruins too, and it's not clear how all that equipment is going to be unloaded.
CHETRY: And so what this is amounting to is desperation right now in Port-au-Prince to get to the dying and be able to provide help to those who did survive. It's a daunting challenge. The airport as we just said is in chaos, nearly paralyzed by the sheer number of supply planes trying to get in and the enormous crowd of people trying to get out.
Our Jason Carroll is there live with an update now on the dire situation.
Hi, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And dire is the exact way to describe it, Kiran. You know, right now, we're standing above the main square in Port-au-Prince where overnight thousands of people have been camping out. They've been chanting, they've been praying, doing whatever they can to keep their spirits up. But for many people, Kiran, the goal is to get out of Haiti.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): There are two groups of people here at Port-au-Prince international airport, hundreds of desperate trying to get out, and a grateful few like Danny Abraham's family who managed to escape on military airlifts.
DANNY ABRAHAM, AMERICAN EVACUEE: We lost our house. Thank God nobody was hurt, and we're trying to get them away.
CARROLL: Families with young children and the elderly given priority. Virginia Cary was hurt during the quake.
VIRGINIA CARY, AMERICAN EVACUEE: And I knew I was going to pass out, and I guess I did.
CARROLL: Cary and her husband Lovel are 81 years old. Both from Cleveland, Tennessee. Here for a church conference.
V. CARY: And a wall collapsed on us. The car (INAUDIBLE) one of our men in the front and we were in the backseat.
CARROLL: And so the plan is to get you on one of these planes and get you out of here then, right?
LOVEL CARY, AMERICAN EVACUEE: We hope. We hope. I hope I can find the man who's got our passports.
CARROLL: Some confusion to be expected. Rescue crews saying this is still the early stage of the evacuation.
(on camera): Throughout the day there are a steady stream of planes coming here at the airport. They've got relief supplies. They're coming from all over the world, from Belgium, from Brazil, from Miami, from Spain, from Iceland, just about any place you can imagine.
What happens is as soon as they get those relief supplies off of the planes, then you've got evacuees who are sitting here at the airport anxiously awaiting to get on those flights.
When you have so many different countries trying to do what they can to help, how do you coordinate that?
LT. GEN. P.K. KEEN: It is a very difficult challenge and here is no difference.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get separation. Get them on. I know it seems stupid.
CARROLL (voice-over): Outside the airport, a crowd of those still trying to get out continues to grow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nothing works. So I wait.
CARROLL: So you wait.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I don't know how long it's going to be, but I'm going to wait.
CARROLL: Many here just as frustrated as the U.S. State Department representative who is trying to control the crowd.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to have a security problem here if these people don't get in order.
CARROLL (on camera): Can you just tell us what information would you like to get out there, because people at the airports...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, because the situation is fluid, OK? What we have is these people are already here. We've got to try to deliver service to them.
CARROLL (voice-over): Many say they would rather stay here and take their chances instead of going back to the city where help still seems very far away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: And the U.S. ambassador to Haiti told me yesterday that in terms of supplies, in terms of donations, I asked him, I said, what exactly do you need? What do you need most? He said, Jason, we need everything, and we need it now.
And one of the goals that they're trying to accomplish out here is, because you've got so many donations coming in from so many different countries, what they're trying to do is set up an international center to try to coordinate all those donations coming in so they can then channel that and get it out to the Haitian people who are out here, as I said, Kiran, sleeping in the streets overnight. Many of them desperately in need of water, in need of clothes, in need of food, in need of shelter -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Huge logistical challenges that need to be overcome there as well as the humanitarian problems added on top of it. Wow.
Jason Carroll for us this morning, thanks so much.
And we're going to take a look right now at live pictures of the airport in Port-au-Prince right now. There you see it. In the next half hour, we're going to be joined live by three-star Army General P.K. Keen. You saw him a moment ago in Jason's report. He is basically now in charge of the entire humanitarian mission in Haiti. We're going to get an assessment from him of the relief effort and the logistical challenges of that effort ahead.
ROBERTS: And while he was reporting in the streets of Port-au- Prince, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta was approached by some people who were desperate to find a medical doctor. The patient, a 15-day old little girl with a head injury and with medical care still extremely scarce, Sanjay immediately did what he could to help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, sweetie. Hi, sweetie. Hi. How old is she?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifteen days.
GUPTA: She's going to need some antibiotics and we're going to need to redress this wound. Let's go ahead and do that with some clean gauze.
So this is what's happening out here in the streets of Port-au- Prince. In this case, a 15-day-old baby who was in the earthquake.
Gentlemen, let me have you hold that. Yes. Over the forehead.
So she has no skull fracture. She does have a big laceration. She's going to need antibiotics, but she does not appear to have a head injury. I think she's going to be OK. She's sucking her thumb. She's OK. There you go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Shows you just how desperate the need is. You know, obviously, Sanjay is a sort of guy where, you know, he's prepared to pitch in wherever possible. We've seen that in the past but to be so desperate for doctors you've got to be pulling people off the streets. It's incredible.
CHETRY: I know. Thank God she's going to be OK, though.
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: So, 15 days old, looked worse than it was, and he said she just needs some antibiotics.
You know, the big thing, as we said, this logical challenge there are supplies there. And there have been so many nations that have tried to get together and give all they can, and get relief supplies out there. But getting them actually to the people that need them is proving to be a huge problem right now.
ROBERTS: All you have to do is look at the streets. They're just so clogged with rubble. You can't get any vehicles through there. Everybody is walking around. You can't walk around while you're carrying tons of supplies.
CHETRY: Experts say the first 72 hours after a disaster like this are critical for saving survivors. That window is quickly shrinking. Yet there were still so much to do, so many lives to save.
Our Susan Candiotti is in Port-au-Prince this morning where one of the many thousands of victims was saved. Look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Beneath an opening of a five-story school, a 21-year-old man is pinned on his side under a slab of cement alive after 46 hours. Someone passes him our microphone.
(on camera): What are you saying to yourself?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Myself? As I'm a Christian, I say, Jesus, you know, my life is in your hand.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): He says he's not in pain. A leg is stuck.
(on camera): Can you move at all?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can move my right hand and my left foot.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): A brave victim and brave rescuers, his own family, risking their lives to free him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're trying. They're trying to help me.
CANDIOTTI: Grade schoolers and teachers were also inside when the building collapsed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me, with a teacher, is fine. He's fine. And me, I'm just -- I'm like you're saying.
CANDIOTTI: But will his luck hold out?
(on camera): After about an hour and a half a little more progress was made. These men using chisels and a blow torch have freed him up just a little bit more. But one of his hands is still caught. And while all of this is going on, this is a very dangerous situation. (voice-over): He screams in agony as a blow torch scorches his skin. Rescuers pass him water by the bucket to cool his burns.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please hang on. Please hang on.
He does. Applause as the young man is pulled from the wreckage. His hand mangled but still there. A glorious moment in a sea of despair. Among those still suffering, a woman on the other side of the building. A woman in pain.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michelle.
CANDIOTTI: Her 12-year-old son Mark was also in the same school. Could his be one of those voices still crying out? Her only child remains missing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: So heartbreaking for that woman. So heartbreaking.
Now you might think that once that young man was pulled out that the family might have left with him. But they didn't. More voices were heard right away, and those same people crawled right back into that hole.
And, John, you know this morning we've already felt overnight for the second night in a row another good couple of jolts, aftershocks -- John.
ROBERTS: Susan, was there any way to follow that fellow who had obviously the burn from the blow torch and the mangled hand as you could see it as he was being pulled away and find out if he fared? Did he actually get medical aid?
CANDIOTTI: Didn't we want to. Unfortunately, we were stuck in this rubble and it's very difficult to move around, and that quickly because they got him and ran with him down the street. So unfortunately, we lost track of him. And the question even in our mind is, where did he wind up? We'd like to try to find out.
CHETRY: And, Susan, you know, we've been talking a lot and we're going to be talking about it more this morning about the difficulty in getting the aid that is there, these supplies that are there at the airport to the people that need it in Port-au-Prince. What are you hearing and seeing around you in terms of whether or not they're having any luck in coordinating that effort better?
CANDIOTTI: Well, so far nothing, because we've been running around trying to follow these rescue stories. But as the daybreak comes up and now that these people are starting to get here on the ground, get better organized, we hope to see more of what they intend to do with that aid and how they intend to distribute it.
Not only that, but we understand from my colleague, Chris Lawrence, that professional rescue teams are now in the country, and we hope to now see some of them out trying to pull out survivors and perhaps victims as well.
CHETRY: Susan Candiotti for us this morning in Port-au-Prince. Thank you.
Well, we've been talking about it, the struggle to get the aid to the people who desperately need it. We're going to be going, digging deeper on that this morning with somebody who's going to be coordinating the effort. In fact, he is the three-star general tasked with the enormous, enormous challenge of making that happen.
It's 12 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RENE PREVAL, PRESIDENT OF HAITI: I'm very sad because a lot of people died. A lot of people are suffering. I'm very sad because my country is in great difficulty. But I'm very happy also to see how the world is with us, is helping us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Fifteen minutes after the hour. We're tracking the recovery efforts on the ground in Haiti. And as aid really starts to pour into the airport in Port-au-Prince this morning, the problem now becomes getting it to people across the capital. Roads remain blocked. There's still almost no heavy equipment to clear out the rubble.
World Vision is a Christian charity that has been working in Haiti for 30 years. For more on where the relief efforts go from here, I'm joined live from Port-au-Prince by Dave Toycen. He's an aid worker with World Vision.
Dave, good to see you this morning. I know that you choppered in just recently from the Dominican Republic. You've been in the aid business for 35 years. You know, the scene that we see behind you and across Port-au-Prince, how does that compare to what you have witnessed worldwide in those past 35 years?
DAVE TOYCEN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, WORLD VISION: There's no question, this is a major, major disaster and everyone has its own personality. The -- the combination of the broken infrastructure here, the poverty here, and then the scale of this disaster, this earthquake, is incredible.
ROBERTS: Right. What -- what have you been seeing as you've been traveling around the city trying to get an assessment of where the need is greatest?
TOYCEN: Well, it's -- I think the sense is we just -- it's overwhelming, the need. I mean, at World Vision, for example, we basically have one day left supply of water, of blankets, of some of the basic things, medical supplies that we're distributing. So I think we're just, typical, in some ways of the challenges we're having as organizations, to get enough supplies to help people here. And time's running out. You feel the urgency growing, really, minute by minute every day.
ROBERTS: Well -- well, tell me a little bit about that. You know, how -- how quickly is the urgency growing? We're -- we're speaking yesterday about a -- a tipping point between sort of an urgent need into desperation and then potentially a catastrophic situation, and -- and how are you also getting re-supplied in terms of your aid?
TOYCEN: Right. Well, we do have -- we do have a flight scheduled that will help us with some material today, so we're encouraged by that. But I just think of the image both last night and this morning where you've got great numbers of people sleeping on the street. They actually blocked off half of the street, and they're sleeping there. And, now, of course, they're getting up and starting to walk around.
The -- the hospital, we were at the state hospital yesterday, and there's just so many people not getting -- no care. And then, even the care itself is really quite primitive in light of the conditions here.
So I just think it's quite clear when you're on the ground that we're nowhere near getting to the point where we've -- we can kind of relax a little bit and say we're -- we're making big progress and we can move on to something else. We're still in the early stages yet of this -- of this disaster, by far.
ROBERTS: Dave, we are seeing all of these big cargo planes and some commercial jetliners that have been chartered, bringing in tons and tons of aid. There are ships that are beginning to arrive.
What -- what is the challenge between getting things on the ground there at the airport and into port and getting them out among the people where they need to be?
TOYCEN: Well, I think one of the -- the issue is obviously logistics. There is -- it's problematic in some areas in terms of the street being cleared, and then, once again, this morning, coming here, the -- the -- it was, I would say a mile-long line of people waiting for -- for gasoline, for petrol.
And so that's another issue. We're -- we're short the basics that allow you to distribute effectively. And there -- then there's logistical challenges at the airport, in the -- you know, getting the goods through. There's no question about that.
So there needs to be more support to get the coordination and the logistics in place as well. I mean, it's like there's not one thing here. It's just a combination of so many things.
ROBERTS: I'm actually kind of surprised that there's any gasoline at all, so a -- a mile-long line for it, at least they have some gasoline in some places.
But people that you've been seeing across the city, how are they coping with these shortages? Because obviously they're short on food, they're short on water, they're short on medical supplies. The Haitian people certainly are hardy people. You couldn't be anything but, putting up with the situation in that country as they have, decade upon decade, but how are they coping?
TOYCEN: Well, you're -- you're so right. That's the other side of this, is that there's courage, there's generosity. I mean, I've talked to a number of people, whether on our staff or other people I've been talking with. You know, those that, say, still have a home that wasn't damaged, they have access, many will have a dozen people, friends, extended family staying with them. They may all be sleeping outside because they still don't trust the building, but there's space for them.
We see people sharing things. You see people helping others in the streets. So there's no question, they're heroic about this. They haven't given up, and there's certainly tangible hope, and I think that grows a little bit every day.
But, as I say, it's still very, very critical here.
ROBERTS: Dave, we should point out that World Vision does a lot of its charitable work with -- with children. What are your concerns for the children there in Haiti? There were a lot of them that were forced into slavery before any of this happened. There -- there are obviously more that are orphaned now. So what's the concern for the children?
TOYCEN: Oh, no absolutely. I mean, children are always the most vulnerable in situations like this. And so, when you see a -- a lack of clean water, for example, lack of sanitation, it's the children, especially the young ones, that will die first, that get sick and die of very simple things.
So our focus, of course, has been on children and doing whatever we can to make sure that they're getting the basics, you know, within their families or if they've been separated from their families.
ROBERTS: And -- and what -- what about the -- what about the issue of child trafficking, about slavery, as I mentioned just a moment ago?
TOYCEN: Well, it's -- Yes. It's still an issue here, and we're a long way from having, you know, for that being banned and -- and simply not existing. So --
But in a sense, that becomes almost an underground issue when you're in the midst of all of this basic, you know, just direct human need that's going on. But it's still there, and that's part of what has to be fixed in this country as we look to the future.
ROBERTS: Right. I thought that part of the concern might be that some of these orphaned children, you know, incidents like this can bring out the best in people and it can also bring out the worst, that some nefarious characters may try to go along and sweep up some of these kids off the streets.
TOYCEN: Well, absolutely. I think there has to be vigilance in a situation like this, because it's a chance, once again, to make money. Because that's really what it's about, and -- and children are so vulnerable. And, as you've indicated, once they're separated from their families, from a -- from a family structure, they're -- they're really vulnerable to, you know, the influence of adults that offer things or simply, you know, just abduct them and take them.
So it's -- yes, it's an issue that's here.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, Dave Toycen, great work that you and your organization are doing. Thanks so much for joining us from Port- au-Prince this morning with an update. We really appreciate it.
TOYCEN: Thank you so much, and we just appreciate the generosity that's flowing from the public, and we just need -- need more of it.
ROBERTS: Got more to come, no question about that. Thanks, Dave. Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks, John.
Still ahead, we're going to be talking with Anderson Cooper. He takes us to a prison in Port-au-Prince, now deserted in the wake of the earthquake. The prisoners were able to get out. So what happens now? Anderson takes a look.
Twenty-two minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the morning.
We're following breaking news this morning out of the disaster zone in Haiti this morning. There were some reports coming in right now, according to the UN World Food Program, that its warehouse that had a lot of -- of food stockpiles there was actually looted.
They say that they're not sure how much of their pre-earthquake stockpile was still there, but they're stressing that they, you know, believe that this is of course normal in these types of emergency situations when people are desperate for food and water and have gone for so long. But they're dealing with looting situations there right now.
ROBERTS: Yes. It's perpetually a problem in instances like this.
CHETRY: And, meantime, adding to some of the chaos in Haiti right now is the reports that the earthquake, after it hit, the main prison in Haiti collapsed, and all of the inmates -- there were some 3,900 of them -- were able to get out. ROBERTS: Anderson Cooper went to that prison to get the whole story, and, as you'll see, while a lot of prisoners got out, some didn't.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the prison in downtown Port-au-Prince, the inmates have escaped. The rubble is all that remains.
COOPER (on camera): We heard the prison was destroyed. We didn't realize we'd find the door wide open.
COOPER (voice-over): Inside, prisoners' possessions are strewn about. Signs of overcrowding are everywhere. This jail was meant to hold some 1200 inmates, but at the time of the quake there were more than 4500.
COOPER (on camera): We've been told that there were three dead bodies here. It turns out there's actually four -- four men. Looks like they were crushed by -- by falling debris. There's actually dried blood all here on the floor.
We just saw a -- a young man, a little boy, who was looking for his brother, looking at the bodies, but a lot of these people may never be identified.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: So no one, obviously, immune from the effects of the earthquake, but now, the question is, with all of those inmates running free, what's the potential for crime down the road?
CHETRY: Yes, a lot of challenges in that aspect as well. And we're following much more on that and also how these reports that we've been able to get, the iReports as well as other social media have been actually reconnecting families to their missing loved ones and family members.
We're going to get a live report from our Haiti Desk on how the -- the internet and cell phones as well as the reporting on television has been able to help unify families in this disaster.
Twenty-seven minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Crossing the half hour now, and more than -- in any other disaster, survivors and concerned relatives are turning to social media. It really is, in some cases, their only lifelines to their loved ones.
Errol Barnett is standing by right now at the special Haiti Desk in our Atlanta headquarters with more on how the social media has in some cases helped reunite families who had no word on their loved ones. Good morning, Errol.
ERROL BARNETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran.
Absolutely, right. We've never before seen this. More than 3,000 people have made use of iReport.com to search for loved ones. Only about 20 of those people have had success in finding that they're alive. But that is something.
We want to show you one success story now. Carmella Belizaire hadn't heard from her sister in Haiti, so she uploaded this plea. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARMELLA BELIZAIRE, SISTER MISSING IN HAITI: Please, please, this is a picture of my sister and I, Waline Belizaire. Please have her contact me. Please let her know that I love her. We all love her. And we're waiting for her phone call.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: Miraculously, Wolf Blitzer interviewed her, and because of the six degrees of separation, she found out her sister was alive, and there are more stories like this. Nancy Hibbard's childhood friend was worried about her, uploaded this picture, found out she was still alive. Here, you're seeing the Orival Family -- Claude, Nerlande and Eric all alive.
And this story, Mariah Levin was with the Tufts School -- The Fletcher School at Tufts University. All students and faculty on this trip were alive. I spoke with her husband. He said it's miraculous. But now their thoughts and prayers are with those that are unaccounted for -- Kiran?
CHETRY: Absolutely. Errol for us this morning. Thanks so much.
Errol Barnett for us at the Haiti desk this morning.
ROBERTS: We're crossing the half hour and we're watching all of the breaking developments out of Haiti this morning. The Red Cross now says Tuesday's major earthquake may have killed at least 50,000 people. Countless others are still buried in the rubble, and the window to save lives is shrinking now. Tons of supplies are pouring in but not being used because of a major back log at Port-Au-Prince had severely damaged airport and port.
CHETRY: Well, it may be in the back burner when it comes to the top of the news right now, but the health care debate still going on. And President Obama says that supporters of health care reform are, quote, "on the doorstep of success and reaching compromise."
A key sticking point is now out of the way. The White House and Democrats say they struck a deal with unions to soften the tax on so- called Cadillac Insurance Plans. That tax would help pay for the overall plan to cover 34 million Americans who currently do not have health insurance. Critics argue that it would end up hitting middle- class hard.
ROBERTS: A report on what went wrong before the Ft. Hood shootings is due out today. An official tells the Associated Press that as many as eight army officers could face punishment for missing red flags. They all supervised the suspect, Major Nidal Hasan during his time as a medical student and army psychiatrist at The Walter Reed Army Medical Center. And, of course, we'll bring you the latest on that just as soon as we get some details.
Well, normally this time on Fridays we bring you John Avlon's weekly "Wingnuts" segment. We're pre-empting that segment today, obviously, given the news out of Haiti. However, you can read John's blog on our Web site. Just head on over to CNN.com/AMFIX. You'll be interested to find out who's gotten this wingnut this week.
CHETRY: Yes. It actually has to do with Haiti, people making political hay out of the tragedy there.
Meanwhile, we're turning to our coverage of the massive rescue and relief effort in Haiti this morning. Desperate Haitians are digging all night in the rubble with nothing but their bare hands and broken tools. They are searching for survivors. And every now and then, a miracle.
Our Ivan Watson is in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, with the struggle to free one 11-year-old girl.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): You can hear her voice sometimes. There's an 11-year-old girl named Anaika Saint Louise (ph). She's pinned underneath this rubble, and the volunteers here are snaking through a hose right now to give her some drinking water. She's about 10 feet away, and you can see the braids of this little girl's hair.
I talked with her. She's wearing glasses, and she is crying. She's in a lot of pain right now, and she is terribly scared.
This little girl, it is kind of heartbreaking to this hear this, because she's pinned there. The right leg is underneath the concrete, and her hands are free and the leg is free, and she is talking to us.
They are trying to give her some drinking water right now. They've given her some food already. They only discovered her today, two days after the earthquake.
They think there are several dozen other people trapped under the rubble who probably did not survive. They're desperately trying to figure out how to get her out.
They are thinking about trying to cut her leg. They have anesthetics, but they don't have blood to help her if they have to cut her leg off to get her out, so they don't know what to do right now.
When they cut with a saw, she doesn't like it at all. It hurts a lot.
Now, they have put a little Bible next to her. You know, there's a pretty little girl. She's got braids. She's got black reading glasses and a chipped front tooth. And we were talking to her, and she is terribly scared right now. And her mother is beside herself.
This is just one case here. You know, we were on a neighboring hilltop, and there were two little French girls trapped under a building there, and only one French fireman working to try to help them out. And he was passing them water.
This is something that is probably replaying itself all across Port-au-Prince, and there's just not enough rescue workers to help. These guys, they say if they could just get the right equipment they need, they could perhaps lift some of this and get her out without cutting her leg.
We don't want to really show that. They have pulled a piece of a dead body -- this is very difficult -- that was next to her. And they are trying to free out some area around this little girl.
And we understand that there are perhaps some 30 other relatives and neighbors who were trapped underneath the rubble. And this is just one house. We are seeing scenes like this all over this city.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: So in the end, rescuers were able to get a power saw and a small generator, they were able to use those tools to cut through the steal beam that was on the little girl's one leg, and they were able to free her.
And Ivan Watson tells us she is now being treated for that severe wound on her leg. But she -- it looks like at least at this point, she kept the leg. They were able to get her out without having to do what they thought which was to possibly amputate it.
ROBERTS: Yes. One success story there, and we see lots of those across Haiti. But there are other stories where it doesn't have such a good ending as well.
CHETRY: No. And the other thing, as Ivan said, they had just discovered her when he did the piece yesterday. I mean, this quake happened Tuesday at, what, 5:00 p.m.? So these people are hanging on for that window. They say 72 hours is really crucial. You've got to get people out.
ROBERTS: You know, there's miracle for people being found a week later, but, you know, typically three to four days, you're starting to get to the maximum window. But she didn't want to appear to be in pretty good shape, though.
Well, millions of dollars in donations pouring in for Haiti relief. Where does your money go? Our Alina Cho is following the dollar this morning.
It's 37 minutes after the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Dr. Carl Hodges looks at the problem of rising sea levels, he sees a simple sea line solution.
CARL HODGES, SEAWATER FOUNDATION: We address sea level rise by taking water out of the sea.
SESAY: He's doing just that here in Mexico, where a manmade river diverts seawater to irrigate the coastal desert. While he estimates 50 rivers like this one are needed to stem the threat of rising sea levels over ten years' time, his idea has another briny benefit.
HODGES: With seawater irrigation, there's no such thing as a drought. We never run out of water.
SESAY: For more than two decades, Hodges has been reclaiming abandoned farmland along the Mexican Coast. Nearly 100 acres of once arid land is now blooming with seawater tolerant plants and crops that he hopes one day will eliminate famine.
HODGES: We can supplement to a large extent the basic food crops of the world using seawater agriculture.
SESAY: At the heart of your vision for the agriculture is a plant called Salicornia. Tell us about that.
HODGES: It's an amazing plant. It has about 30 percent to 40 percent very high-quality vegetable oil. It's like soybean, about 40 percent protein. Now it's the star.
SESAY: A star guiding his vision of a better future.
HODGES: I want my grandkids to come to places I've touched and say, God, that's beautiful.
Isha Sesay, CNN, Bahia Kino, Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Forty-one minutes past the hour.
Food, water, medical supplies, the donations are pouring in to Haiti. And actress and Unicef Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie as well as her partner, actor Brad Pitt gave $1 million to Doctors Without Borders for the operations in Haiti.
Also the New York Yankees donating $500,000. Media mogul Ted Turner has committed $1 million through his organization and the United Nation's foundation. Turner founded CNN, of course, but is no longer affiliated with the organization. CNN's parent company, though, Time Warner has created a fund to match employee donations up to $500,000.
And it's not just celebrities and big corporations, millions of everyday Americans are donating record amounts, particularly online.
ROBERTS: You know, the help is desperately needed, but there are people out there who will take advantage of people's generosity. It happens every time. So how can you be sure that you're giving to a legitimate organization?
Our Alina Cho is looking at the anatomy of charity, where your money goes, and what it buys once it gets there, and how not to get scammed by bogus charities.
Good morning.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. So much money as you guys know is pouring in. People are looking at those pictures on television, and they're moved to act. And we're glad they are doing it. But they need to know how to donate in the right way.
Guys, in just the past couple of days, millions of dollars have been donated to charities to help the victims in Haiti. But we wanted to know when you give your money, how quickly does that turn into aid, and how much of your money goes to the people who need it? And with all the different charities out there, how do you know where to donate? We went to one of the largest charities, UNICEF, to find some answers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): The phones at UNICEF are ringing off the hook. Millions are pouring in online. So following the money, where are those dollars going, and how fast?
(on camera): When you click on that donate button, and you give your money, how quickly does that money start getting used?
LISA SZARKOWSKI, UNICEF: That money is converted into aid within hours.
CHO (voice-over): UNICEF's Lisa Szarkowski says these early days are crucial.
(on camera): This critical window is now. How long does it last?
SZARKOWSKI: I would say for the next week. the disease post disaster has the potential to kill as many, if not more people than the occurrence itself of the earthquake.
CHO (voice-over): Which is why charity expert say getting your money to the right organization is key. Rule number one, think big.
TREVOR NELSON, PRESIDENT, GLOBAL PHILANTHROPY GROUP: Think about the organizations that are most likely to get the dollar that you donate directly to the people of Haiti. That's unlikely to be a small local organization. That's why the U.N. is such an attractive place to donate money right now, or the Red Cross.
CHO: UNICEF is a U.N. agency and its first wave of donations is going toward essential supplies. And it doesn't take much to make a difference. Water purification tablets, plastic jugs to hold clean water, first aid kits. Total cost, just pennies, because UNICEF buys in bulk. What the victims in Haiti need right now. Supplies that could save lives.
SZARKOWSKI: This is something called Oral Rehydration Salts. These cost seven cents for this package. It literally can bring a child back to life.
CHO (on camera): How much does a tent like this cost?
SZARKOWSKI: About $700 for a tent. And it literally is a shelter, it's a community center, it can be a hospital.
CHO (voice-over): Even a school. This school in a box costs $190, and provides supplies for 80 children. These will be sent to Haiti in the coming weeks.
SZARKOWSKI: It's often surprising to people that this would be such a priority, but if we don't do it now and soon, our years of experience show us that it can cripple children and really seriously impede their recovery. What we need to do immediately is restore some sense of normalcy. Literally a safe haven.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: And as of 2:00 this morning, we're happy to report UNICEF tells us it has raised $8.5 million. That is just UNICEF. And representatives tell me that donations on the Web, listen to this, are three times higher than the same time frame, meaning the first 48 hours, guys, post tsunami.
And what is so important for you guys to know is if you donate using a credit card, UNICEF tells me that is as good as money in the bank. They can then call their office in Haiti, and they can start ordering supplies and get that -- those supplies which are so critical right now on the ground, and again, the key, think big.
Go to a large organization like the Red Cross, like UNICEF. Philanthropy experts, charity experts tell me, listen, down the line there's going to be an incredible need to donate to the smaller, sort of faith-based non-governmental organizations that can then go in and provide that additional need, but right now, it's critical to get those first aid supplies on the ground in Haiti, and the best way to do that, donate to an organization like UNICEF.
ROBERTS: All right. Alina, thanks so much for that.
CHO: See you guys.
CHETRY: Right now, it's 45 minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. We're continuing to follow the situation in Haiti right now, and it really is hard to understand just how widespread the destruction is across the city of Port-au-Prince, but the view from planes and satellites giving us a real look at a capital city that's been destroyed.
ROBERTS: The biggest obstacle is roads blocked by rubble and an airport that is in complete chaos today. Our Tom Foreman has a breakdown of the challenge ahead.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some of the best measurements of how extensive this damage is, is coming from before and after pictures taken from space. Look at this, this is a digital globe Google earth image of the Port before the earthquake hit, and now I want to show you a GEOEYE image of it afterward. Look at this, whole parts of the pier have disappeared. This big crane which was sitting up here on the ground is now out in the water, and the concrete over here is fractured with five-foot craters in it.
Let's move into town a little bit more, and I'll show you another area. We've heard a lot of talk about the idea of needing to clear the roads to make it possible for rescuers to get to people who are stranded. Look at this intersection, big buildings here in the picture from before. Now, look what happens after, they completely have collapsed into the road. This is repeated many, many times up and down these roads. That's why aid cannot get in or out easily.
Let's go and look at another before and after picture. If I move it up this for a little bit, I can show you, nearby, this is a cathedral, obviously a landmark in any big city. Look at the cathedral right there. Now that we go to the GEOEYE image and look at the cathedral after, nothing but a shell of what it was, and there is one more before and after I want to show you, because it's a very, very important one. Take a look at this. All over the city, wherever you can find big, empty fields and big empty spaces like this, this is what they looked like before, and this is what they look like after.
These places are absolutely filling up with refugees, people setting up temporary housing of some sort, and these are the people who are waiting for help to arrive. When the Port can be fixed? When the airport can be operational? When the roads can be cleared? This is a battle right now for time and space. They're trying to figure out how to close the space between the aid and these people in enough time to prevent a second disaster, which is all these people being stranded within their own city waiting for help.
ROBERTS: Tom Foreman with that for us this morning. It's now nine minutes to the top of the hour. Stay with us. We'll continue our special coverage in just a few moments.
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ROBERTS: Six minutes now to the top of the hour. Our coverage of the rescue efforts in Haiti continues. We're monitoring the latest developments, and we'll bring them to you as they come in.
CHETRY: That's right, and the Pentagon, meanwhile, is in full motion this morning. They have taken charge of some of the rescue and relief efforts in Port-au-Prince in Haiti, military planes, ships, ground troops, and aircraft carrier.
The U.S. has Carl Vinson all headed to Haiti. U.S. Southern Command is now leading the Pentagon's mission there, and Lt. Gen. Ken Keen, South Coms Deputy Commander was in Haiti when the quake struck on Tuesday. He joins us live from Port-au-Prince this morning. General, good morning. Thanks for talking to us today.
LT. GEN. P.K. KEEN, DEPUTY COMMANDER OF U.S. SOUTHERN COMMAND: Good morning, Kiran. Good to talk to you.
CHETRY: We will just apologize to our viewers ahead of time. There will be a bit of delay and we might have a little bit of trouble hearing you, but we're hoping to at least establish some communication with you and get your take on what's going on. You're charged now with managing a half dozen large ships, roughly 8,000 military personnel who will soon be either in or near Haiti. It's a huge effort. What are your most immediate objectives? What do you need to get accomplished first?
KEEN: Kiran, as you mentioned, we're here, and have been here over the last few days providing as much support as possible. Your viewers may be able to see behind me two aircraft that just flew in minutes ago from the USS Carl Vinson, and our major effort right now is trying to get relief supplies out to reduce the human suffering that the Haitian people have experienced due to the earthquake.
CHETRY: Yes, we actually see members of the units walking right behind you, backpacked loaded, ready to go. One of the problems seems to be, at least from what we're hearing here, is getting that relief actually to the places. I understand it's hard going.
KEEN: Exactly. It's a tremendous effort that the international community is showing up, working in support of the United States agency for international development along side the UN and the MINUSTAH forces who are already here, and themselves, experience the effects of the earthquake.
CHETRY: You know, we're also hearing from aid workers that we're hoping to get out there and start distributing this aid. They're warning that their efforts may need more security. They're saying that Haitians are understandably growing increasingly desperate and impatient for help. In fact, the UN World Food Programme reporting that its warehouse was looted. How will you help get a handle on the security situation?
KEEN: We're working in conjunction with the UN forces and MINUSTAH that are here. We're 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 Haitian and the national police to deal with it as best as we can, but our priority is getting -- right now, it's getting rescue efforts, which are 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.
CHETRY: Certainly going to be a big challenge ahead, and we wish you the best of luck. Thanks for your time this morning. General Ken Keen, thanks for joining us.
ROBERTS: At the top stories coming your way in just 90 seconds. Stay with us on the Most News in the Morning.
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ROBERTS: Some people who have seen wars have never seen anything like this. The unimaginable misery in Port-au-Prince, Haiti is getting worse by the second this morning. The coming hours, critical in keeping more earthquake survivors from becoming victims, and of course, thousands of people are still trapped in the rubble. More help is on the way, but some is being turned away. A few small miracles, though, in the rubble are giving people hope this morning.
