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American Morning
Haiti's Airport Overwhelmed; Critical Need for Medical Care; Grad Student Thankful to be Alive; How America is Helping in the Relief Effort in Haiti; Rescue Workers Struggle to Free a Girl
Aired January 15, 2010 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And thanks for joining us in "The Most News in the Morning" on this Friday, the 15th of January. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. And we're following all of the breaking news out of Haiti this morning where the situation is growing more desperate and sad, really, by the second.
The Red Cross now says 50,000 people may be dead and we're learning this morning that victims are being laid to rest in other people's tombs, countless others still being buried and are still buried in the rubble. And aid workers say that survivors are fighting for the little water that they have available.
ROBERTS: The United States is coming to the rescue. Another 800 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne are expected to be on the ground today, along with 19 heavy-lift helicopters and an aircraft carrier with 30 pallets of relief supplies.
CHETRY: Also the State Department now ordering American citizens who are not involved in the effort to get out of Haiti. Getting them out, though, is proving to be as tough as getting supplies in.
Our Jason Carroll has more on the frustration live on the ground in Port-au-Prince.
ROBERTS: The rescue and relief effort is also being slowed down because so many roads are blocked or too severely damaged to be passable.
Take a look at this as well. Bodies are stacked on the streets, survivors gathered in the open this morning out of fear of aftershocks and unstable buildings.
CHETRY: Well, he's a reporter but he is a doctor first. Dr. Sanjay Gupta pulled aside on the street by a desperate family who had an injured 15-day-old baby. The house had collapsed, her mother was killed. And it is a scene that you must see this morning.
ROBERTS: Also joining us live at 7:30 Eastern this morning, just about 29 minutes from now, President Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, on a charity drive that has gone absolutely viral.
CHETRY: First, though, they are to manage the chaos at the Port- au-Prince airport this morning. Supply planes are backed up, they're forced to circle over head, in some cases turned back. There's been no place to land and fuel is scarce.
On the ground, huge crowds are forming and everyone is trying to get out of the country as well as fast as they can.
We have Jason Carroll live in Port-au-Prince this morning. And again, we're talking about this dichotomy of seeing those life-saving supplies that are there on the ground and then seeing, you know, right there in Port-au-Prince not being able to get them to the people.
How are they trying to help fix that challenge right now?
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's frustrating. You know, in terms of -- we've been speaking to some of the aid workers about what they're trying to do to reach the people who are out here, like the people behind me.
This is the main square here in Port-au-Prince, where folks have been camped out overnight.
And Kiran, what's interesting is they've been singing, in some cases, dancing, doing whatever they can to keep their spirits up, despite the fact that many of them have lost loved ones, they have no homes, no food, in some cases no water. It is a very desperate situation for them, but despite that, doing what they can to keep their hopes up.
For other people, the main goal has been 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 the grateful few like Danny Abraham's family who managed to escape on military air lifts.
DANNY ABRAHAM, AMERICAN EVACUEE: We lost our house. Thank God none -- 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: 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.
CARY: And a wall collapsed on us, on the car. Killed one of our men in the front. And we were in the backseat.
CARROLL (on camera): And so the plan is to get you on one of these planes and get you out of here.
LOVEL CARY, AMERICAN EVACUEE: We hope. We hope. I hope I can find the man that's got our passports.
CARROLL (voice-over): 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.
You have so many different countries trying to do what they can to help. How do you coordinate that?
LT. GEN. P.K. KEEN, DEPUTY COMMANDER, U.S. SOUTHERN COMMAND: It is a very difficult challenge. And here, there's no difference.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get on with the separation. Get behind. 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 (on camera): So you wait.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I don't know how long it's going to be, but I'm going to wait.
CARROLL (voice-over: Many here just as frustrated as the U.S. State Department representative who's just 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 you would like to get out there?
(CROSSTALK)
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 some 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 you heard that representative from the State Department calling it a fluid situation.
Kiran, that basically means there's going to be a little bit of chaos here on the ground for a little while longer until they can get more folks down here to help those people who want to get out of here, to try to figure out some way to make the system work a little bit better.
But that's just one of the many, many challenges on the ground here in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Kiran?
CHETRY: Jason Carroll for us this morning. Thank you.
ROBERTS: The sun is rising once again on the destruction in Haiti where it is now a fourth day of chaos, and another day of just trying to survive.
Have a look at this. In parking lots and in parks, tens of thousands now living in tent cities. Their homes, no longer secure, or destroyed. The streets, often not safe.
For the sick and injured, the medical care is still pretty much nonexistent. These pictures were taken late yesterday. Makeshift hospitals are overwhelmed and right now doctors from around the globe are trickling in and doing whatever they can.
In stark contrast to the suffering, a rare moment of hope. People praying out loud and singing a popular song, roughly translated, "God will be with you through the tears, God will protect you."
And while reporting in the streets of Port-au-Prince, our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta was approached by some people desperate to find a doctor. The patient? A 15-day-old girl with a head injury.
And with medical care still extremely scarce, Sanjay immediately did what he could to help.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Still we're walking through the streets of Port-au-Prince right now, you've got a real idea of what things are like here.
There's just very little in the way of resources or very little in the promise of help. 15-day-old baby with some sort of head injury. They're begging for a doctor.
Sanjay Gupta.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE), Dr. Gupta.
GUPTA: What happened?
(CROSSTALK)
GUPTA: Turn this on, please. Can you tell me what happened specifically?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The house collapsed. And the mother died.
GUPTA: How has she been? What is she doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just got damaged.
GUPTA: Hi, sweetie. Hi, sweetie. So she's moving both of her arms. That's a good sign. She's moving both of her legs. Can you look through there again and see if you have any more gauze?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have some big gauze, I can cut it down.
GUPTA: She has a pretty significant laceration here. What I need to make sure, she doesn't have a skull fracture underneath. The good news is, I don't think she does. So that's good. This is OK. No skull fracture underneath here. She's got a big laceration underneath, but she is moving all four extremities.
Hi, sweetie. Hi, sweetie. Hi. How old is she?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifteen days.
GUPTA: She's going to need some antibiotics. We're going to need to redress this wound. Let's go ahead and do that with some clean -- got a piece of that 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 an earthquake. Let me have you hold that for a second. Yes. Goes 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. Sucking her thumb. She's good.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Sanjay Gupta pitches in again.
And Doc, you've done that a number of times in crisis zones around the world, but let's take a look at the broader picture here. In terms of medical relief, how great is the need, and how well is that need being fulfilled by the organizations that have either been in Haiti or have poured into Haiti since the earthquake?
GUPTA: Well, you know, there's really two things at play here, John. One is that even before this natural disaster, this place, Port-au-Prince, and specifically Haiti, has one of the lowest doctor- to-patient ratios anywhere in the world.
So they didn't start off in a very good place, and then obviously added a lot more patients after the earthquake. So those two things in combination have made it very difficult to get care. People literally walking the streets with loved ones, asking for any kind of help. Relief workers are starting to come in, John, to your second question. The problem still really seems to be supplies. I've seen more staff from all sorts of countries around the world, but still getting a lot of supplies from the airport, even to the places that need it the most, critically-injured areas and to the hospitals like the ones you saw, is just still proving to be tough. They've simply got to get the roads cleared, John.
ROBERTS: All right. Great stuff yesterday, Sanjay. You've got some pretty amazing skills there which I'm certain will probably be in need over the next few days as well.
Sanjay Gupta this morning from Port-au-Prince. Great job, Doc.
CHETRY: Just amazing.
Well, another survivor story. We're going to be joined by Krista Brelsford. She was there with her brother in Port-au-Prince when the building they were in fell on top of her. She ended up getting one leg caught. It had to be amputated.
But she is in good spirits and talking about her survival story. She's going to be joining us along with her brother and the doctor that helped her in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
CHETRY: Welcome back to "The Most News in the Morning." Fifteen minutes past the hour right now.
You know, through all the grim news from Haiti, we are hearing some amazing stories of survival. And our next guest is a 25-year-old American grad student who lost her leg from the knee down in the earthquake when the building she was in collapsed on her.
Christa Brelsford is now in Miami at Jackson Memorial Hospital. She's with her brother, Julian, who was also in Haiti and who helped save her.
Welcome to both of you. And you're also joined by Dr. Mark McKenney who heads the trauma center there in Jackson Memorial. Great to have you all with us.
Christa, first of all, how are you feeling today?
CHRISTA BRELSFORD, HAITI EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR: I'm so happy to be here that I feel pretty good.
CHETRY: You have such an amazing story of survival. You guys were there doing volunteer work in Haiti, you and your brother, Julian, and you were about 12 miles south of Port-au-Prince when the quake happened. Explain where you were and what happened in those immediate moments after. C. BRELSFORD: We were on the second story of a two-story house. I felt the first shock and thought that maybe a truck had hit the building, and then I felt the second shock and knew it was an earthquake. So all of us started to run down the stairs to leave the house, because we knew that the house wouldn't stand.
Julian was first down the stairs, I think, and he ran in a doorway. I slipped while I was going down the stairs. And so the roof of the house fell down a story and a half on to my leg and crushed my right leg. But my left leg was fine. Well, crushed but not as badly.
CHETRY: How scared were you? How scared were you? How much pain when this first happened, or was it just shock?
C. BRELSFORD: I was very, very scared, but my main thought was to try to not panic. I was running through all the lines they told us in our earthquake drills in elementary school.
CHETRY: Yes, you guys are from Alaska and you had to go through those earthquake drills, right?
C. BRELSFORD: Yes, we did.
CHETRY: Julian, how were you able to try to help her. As I understand it, you used an electrical cord. You knew that her leg was pretty hurt badly, and you used an electrical cord to act as a tourniquet. What were you trying to do in those immediate moments after you realized your sister was injured?
JULIAN BRELSFORD, HAITI EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR: When I first realized she was injured I was still worried about the building collapsing on her, so I didn't want to do very much. I did try to take the pieces that I could lift, the small pieces, and pull them off. And it was eventually by pulling pieces one by one off the top of her that we got her completely free.
CHETRY: And this is just the beginning of your ordeal, because after that happened you guys eventually were able to get evacuated. But you had to spend the night outside for a full day, and then even after that you were transported to the airport. How did you eventually get to Miami and get treated?
C. BRELSFORD: We took -- after I got free of the building, I took a motorcycle ride, about three kilometers from where we were to the Sri Lankan military -- their U.N. peacekeeping mission, where I spent the night and got a splint and a little bit more medical care and some cough drops and cookies, and spent most of the day there until the afternoon when a U.S. Army -- a U.S. military ambulance came and brought me to the U.N. triage center at the airport in Port-au- Prince, where I waited for a little while, and then got put on a private jet with a number of other injured survivors and brought to Miami.
CHETRY: And Dr. McKenney, what shape was Christa in when you were able to assess her and then ultimately decide to operate? DR. MARK MCKENNEY, TRAUMA SURGEON, UNIV. MIAMI-JACKSON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: You know, surprisingly, she was in OK shape. The extremity was crushed so badly that it actually helped her. Because if it had just been partially crushed, she would have bled to death from the arteries and veins, but essentially the arteries and veins were fused from the crush and her brother put on a tourniquet, although gangrene was starting to set in. So she needed an emergency amputation which was done by my partner.
CHETRY: So after the emergency amputation, you have to go through another surgery today, Christa?
C. BRELSFORD: That's correct.
CHETRY: And what are you thinking right now, knowing that, you know, you lost your leg in this, but you survived, something that thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people did not?
C. BRELSFORD: That's amazing that there are so many way in the last couple of days that I could have died that I'm not worried about my leg at all. I have one leg that's in good condition. I'm otherwise completely healthy. I knew that as long as I got fairly prompt medical care I was going to be OK. And so I'm just thankful to be alive.
CHETRY: And you are so upbeat, I mean, it's amazingly inspirational just to see you. I mean, you look great for everything that you've been through.
Julian, were you ever scared during this ordeal that your sister wasn't going to make it?
J. BRELSFORD: I was very scared. It wasn't clear that we were going to be able to get her out of that house and then later on it wasn't clear that we were going to make it to Port-au-Prince or to have any transportation to the U.S. once we got there.
CHETRY: I know, and as you said before, there were so many times when you thought maybe it wasn't going to happen for you. The relief is certainly palpable.
And Dr. McKenney, what about the long-term prospects for Christa? How is she going to be?
MCKENNEY: She's going to do well. And she's going back for a second operation to refashion the bones, muscles and skin. After that she'll be able to walk on crutches. Once the wound heels, she'll get a prosthesis and she'll be walking without crutches.
CHETRY: Well, boy, just an amazing story of survival and really inspirational to know how upbeat you are after all of this. I thank you for joining us and we really, really enjoyed being able to share your story.
Good luck in the future, Christa, Julian and Dr. McKenney. Thanks for joining us this morning. C. BELSFORD: Thank you.
J. BELSFORD: Thanks.
ROBERTS: Her spirit is just amazing, isn't it?
CHETRY: Yes, I mean, they were there doing volunteer work. They were there, you know, realizing just what the need was in Haiti even pre-earthquake...
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: ... and wanted to be a part of that.
ROBERTS: And the thing about her too, is she is so concerned for the people in Haiti who didn't get the level of medical care that she did. So even while she's off the island and coping with the loss of, you know, partial loss of a limb, she's thinking about everybody else. Really amazing young woman.
CHETRY: She is.
ROBERTS: Well, millions of Americans taking the relief effort into their own hands by texting. Already more than $7 million has been donated via cell phones for the earthquake victims. Wireless companies say the Red Cross sponsored the majority, thanks to $10 pledges. A Verizon spokesperson called it the campaign, quote, "the largest outpouring of support by texting in history.
Bill Clinton is taking a big role in the relief and what will inevitably be reconstruction efforts in Haiti. He's the U.N. special envoy to the country. He'll be joining us in just about ten minutes' time, so make sure you stay tuned for that.
CHETRY: Also we've been getting literally thousands of iReports from you on the earthquake in Haiti. Some of the most emotional the pleas for help in finding a loved one. And now CNN is trying to help like no other network can. And our Betty Nguyen is helping us this morning with that.
Hey, Betty.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Yes, there is a wonderful resource that we have online for people who are looking for their lost loved ones in Haiti. I'm going to show you how you can get to that site and how people are actually finding their loved ones coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 25 minutes after the hour. We're back with the Most News in the Morning. Our special coverage of the earthquake in Haiti.
Even in relatively tough times for us, help is on the way right now to Haiti from literally every corner of the world. Here's just a few of the relief efforts under way right now as we go to the magic wall.
In Arizona here, as we bring this up and let it play, the 79th Rescue Squadron from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, they were actually in South Carolina on training exercises when they were called to duty. They've delivered 13,000 pounds of equipment and personnel directly into Haiti. What's interesting to note is how quickly are they getting in and out?
They got on the ground there in Haiti. They unloaded the pallets. They were back up in the air again in a little less than eight minutes.
In California, Coast Guard C-130 Hercules aircraft, with two- flight crews, 22 representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has been moved from California over to Florida where they are awaiting orders for their deployment.
In Florida, by the way, here's another relief effort that's under way. This is an Urban Search and Rescue team. We'd heard about the Fairfax County USAR (ph) team, also one from California. This is a team that's being sent to set up medical field stations in Haiti. Florida hospitals are also treating the injured who are being brought back from Haiti, as we saw just a moment ago with that young woman who was so fortunate to -- while she lost her foot, she at the very least managed to live through the ordeal.
And here's one other relief effort that's really, really, really desperately needed here in these times. This is Water Missions International out of Charleston, South Carolina. They're sending ten water purification systems into Haiti over the next 48 hours. Each of these systems can treat up to 10,000 gallons of water each and every day. It's enough to provide the daily needs for about 5,000 people in disaster situations where you ration about two gallons per person per day.
Kiran, I saw not these particular units but similar units put into play during the Iraq war in 2003. The Army had them out there. Reverse osmosis units where they literally would stick a hose into a drainage canal and the water was so fetid that you didn't even want to get near it. And they would put them into these big reverse osmosis units, and would come out the other side crystal clear, put a little bit of chlorine in it and you've got drinking water. It only takes a matter of hours to do it as well, so desperately needed supplies on their way into Haiti.
CHETRY: Wonderful news. And we're also hearing that the next 63 -- well, we're nearing the 63 hours since the quake hit. And one of the things that they always talk about is that window for finding survivors. I mean, you have rare cases after three or four days, but usually the window is about 72 hours, maybe more for finding survivors, especially those who've gone without food and water.
And so right now, that window is closing. But hope is not, and researchers are clinging to it, our rescuers, rather.
Our Ivan Watson is live in Port-au-Prince. And, Ivan, you have a remarkable story. The rescue of a young 11-year-old girl who was just only discovered yesterday when your crews were there, that she was still alive under the rubble.
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kiran. We followed a number of different cases just a few of the things we've stumbled across around the streets, of people struggling to pull survivors out from underneath the rubble of this terrible earthquake. Let's take a look at this report, please.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sara (ph), can you hear me?
WATSON (voice-over): Rescue workers call out to a woman trapped under rubble.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll tell you exactly what room number it is, and you know exactly where you're 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 Sara (ph), trapped somewhere near what was the hotel bar.
DAVID BARLOW, FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA: She indicated to us that she was just trapped. She wasn't pinned by anything. There was nothing actually holding her down, that she was trapped in a void and that she was OK. So it's just a matter of us getting to her.
WATSON: How critical is this period right now for people like this woman?
BARLOW: Obviously the first 24 to 48 hours is critical after any incident.
WATSON: 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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE): The main gate fell on us, this survivor says. A cinderblock fell on my head. My arm and leg are broken.
WATSON: The rescue team here consists of local residents, volunteers with no emergency training. Everywhere you go in this city, desperate Haitians are asking for help.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WATSON (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 and my brother. Help me.
WATSON (voice-over): At this house, we found 11-year-old Anika Salui (ph). For two days her right leg has been pinned under' 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 water. To save her, the volunteers say all they need is an electric saw.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON: And shortly after sunset we learned that Anika was liberated from that death trap. The volunteers, they succeeded in finding a power saw, a small gas-powered generator and they cut through that iron beam, then rushed her to get some kind of first aid. Now she's escaped the death trap, but her ordeal is far from over. She has serious wounds to her right leg, also to her shoulder. And the hospitals here are simply overwhelmed. Kiran.
CHETRY: Understandable for sure. Ivan Watson for us this morning. Thank you.
And right now, it's 31 minutes past the hour. Time for the morning's top stories.
Former Haitian President Jean Aristide wants to return to his homeland to help with relief efforts. He has been exiled in South Africa since he was ousted as Haiti's president back in 2004. He says he has a plane and emergency supplies ready to go help the earthquake victims. It's not clear when or how he might return to Haiti.
ROBERTS: The nuclear powered aircraft carrier "USS Carl Vinson" is expected to reach Haiti in the next several hours. The Navy carrier is bringing 19 helicopters, some of them with heavy lift capabilities, along with water purification systems and other supplies. The "Vinson" will serve as a floating airport for chopper relief operations.
CHETRY: And after taking heat from Congress and quite a few calls from CNN in fact, the credit card companies have decided to stop profiting off of your charitable donations to Haiti. American Express, MasterCard and Visa had been taking two to three percent off of the top of every charged donation. It's a standard transaction fee, but now all three companies tell CNN they've reconsidered and they will waive the fees while reimbursing charities for the money they've already collected.
ROBERTS: Former President Bill Clinton is the United Nations special envoy to Haiti. Writing an on-line article for "Time" magazine this week, he says he first went to Haiti in 1975, and the nation, its history and its culture have been special to him ever since. President Obama is committing $100 million toward the disaster and has asked the former president to work with former President George W. Bush and lead America's humanitarian effort. Former President Clinton joins us now live from Chappaqua, New York. Mr. President good to talk to you this morning. I guess, this is similar to the effort that you and George H.W. Bush, the 41st president launched after the tsunami relief, after the tsunami hit in Indonesia. Teaming up with George W. Bush, tell us what you're going to be up to.
BILL CLINTON, FMR. U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, first, I talked to President Bush yesterday after President Obama asked us to do this. And we agreed, subject to the approval of the White House, of course, that we would try to do just what you said. We will try to help raise the long-term overall nature of American giving, and we'll try once this emergency has passed to put that money into implementing the economic and educational and health care plans that the Haitian government had already adopted.
And I also talked yesterday to more than 50 of the investors, and non-governmental groups working there who had planned to come meet with me before the earthquake. They all reaffirmed their commitment. I talked to the representatives of the other governments, they all reaffirmed it. But we all know -- John, you're showing the pictures. We've still got another week where we've got to move stones and find bodies.
We're going to find a lot of people alive if we keep moving. Meanwhile, you've got unprecedented numbers of the people roaming the streets at night with no place to sleep. They haven't had any sleep in two days, they don't have water, they don't have food. The most immediate thing now is for people even to give small amounts of money, but we need large numbers of people giving small amounts of money so we can get food, water, medical supplies and shelter there.
The Red Cross has gotten its operation back up and going, the U.N. is beginning to work. I gave them my web site, the clintonfoundation.org/haiti earthquake. We're going to buy and ship today more medical supplies, more water, more food. We've asked people to text "Haiti" at 20222, they can automatically give 10 bucks. We need another week of this. We've got to do this. And that's how we're going to avoid having the city erupt more.
You've got all these people wandering around with no place to go, no place to sleep, no water to drink. That's the most important thing for the next week or 10 days. Then President Bush and I will do everything we can to make America a big part of this long-term partnership, and President Obama has tasked the secretary of state and the aid director to manage America's end of this.
We're going to do fine. And it's going to be a good thing. Haiti still can resume its path of modernization for the first time in my lifetime, but we've got to get them through this awful, awful period first.
ROBERTS: Mr. President, how concerned are you about the security situation there? You said people are just wandering around on the streets, becoming increasingly desperate. May U.S. troops have to play some sort of role in law enforcement? We've got Marines on the ground there, the 82nd Airborne is in there as well. They may have to take on some sort of law enforcement role as this he did in 1994?
CLINTON: Well, I think that will be up to the U.N. troops there. I compliment the Defense Department and the military. They have worked with the United Nations force there, it's under the command of a Brazilian general. The force has Americans, Chinese, and Jordanians and Nepalese, they've done a great job. They know what's going on in the streets. They have lost some of their soldiers in the earthquake. But I think that the first thing we need to do is to use the American military's ability for logistics, for distribution.
We need to get the water and the food and the shelter and the medical supplies to the airport, then distribute it well. And let the people in the street know -- keep in mind, John, used to be people in Haiti got all their information from radio, but the radios aren't working now. We need to get some solar powered small radios in there so people can communicate with each other through their radio stations.
We need to have people in the streets saying where they can go get this. We need to find a place for people to go at night. We need a few places that are lighted at night so people will be safe. I know these things seem rudimentary to most Americans, but that's why, you know, for 10 bucks you can buy a flash light, a solar-powered flashlight that can keep a whole area lit up and safe at night.
These are the kinds of things that we're trying to do now. And the military I think is more likely to be asked to help in the distribution, the logistics of this, than in a military capacity. Minustah, the U.N. operation, they're great. And assuming that we haven't lost too many people and we can still keep bringing our U.N. people out from under the rubble today alive, I think that's going to get better and better.
ROBERTS: And Mr. President, are you concerned that a lot of supplies are making their way into the international airport there in Port-au-Prince, there are ships that are arriving into the bay area there, but they can't get to the port because it's been destroyed, are you concerned that a lot of this aid is arriving but yet can't get out to the people?
CLINTON: Sure, I am. That's why I say, one of the things I've said two days ago, when Hillary and I first talked about this, is that the port had been destroyed and the U.N., which normally would have done this, our people there, my colleagues, they're still -- most of them are still buried under rubble. We don't know if they're alive or dead.
So the most important thing I think that the military and other people, private companies that do this work, we need help with logistics, with distribution. But we have to work with the military force there who brought security to Port-au-Prince. If we can get the logistics worked out, then it's just a question of off loading the planes and finding a way to get the stuff off the ships.
The Chinese were great, they sent a whole planeful of stuff yesterday, so much it took six hours to offload. But we've got to work out the...
ROBERTS: But Mr. President, how do you get the streets cleared? That's the big problem. There just isn't the heavy equipment there. We see some front end loaders, mostly being tasked to pick up dead bodies. How do you get the streets clear?
CLINTON: Well, you saw some of the front end loaders yesterday. Keep in mind the Haitians bought with some of their aid after the hurricanes in 2008 some really good moving equipment. They had it out in the country dredging waterways to protect against hurricanes. They're getting that back into the cities now. They will be able to move the debris off the streets. That's going to happen.
But a lot of that food's going to have to be distributed by people like military units who can carry it to heavily trafficked intersections. And then just give it away. They have problems now with distributing it and letting people know where it is. But that's what we need to work on. And I think that you'll see a lot of improvement in the logistics today. That's the most important thing.
ROBERTS: Mr. President...
CLINTON: ... getting the stuff that we've got out.
ROBERTS: Mr. President, you know so much about this country, you're so familiar with it. Your first visit there was in the early 1970s, 1975, you actually went there almost sort of as a delayed honeymoon and you've been involved with it very closely ever since. From what you know of the country, the extent of the damage there, how long is it going to take for Haiti to come back?
CLINTON: Well, first of all, there are a lot of things we don't know yet. One of the things that we can't calculate is the damage to the economic infrastructure of Port-au-Prince. A lot of the wealthiest families in Haiti had their homes destroyed and their businesses destroyed. A lot of the economic infrastructure has been damaged.
On the other hand, the agricultural wealth and potential of the country which is outside of Port-au-Prince, and a lot of the other assets are still out there. I believe if we can -- we recover the living, bury the dead, take care of the wounded and clean the streets we can start again. I've asked our people to start working on helping the Haitian government, update their economic plan to take account of this damage.
And as I said yesterday, I talked to all the major donor countries. I talked to a lot of the major non-governmental organizations, the private investors. They all want to just go back to work as soon as this emergency passes. So I would say that it will delay the full recovery, but it also may give more people a reason to be committed to this, both within Haiti and outside Haiti's borders.
This is the poorest country in our hemisphere but they're an enormously able people. Look how well our Haitian-Americans have done, or Haitian-Canadians or Haitian-French citizens. The Haitian diaspora has done well. They finally have a government in Haiti committed to modernizing the country.
I believe we can return to the path of progress, but first we've got to get the bodies out from under the rubble and see how many people are alive and take care of these people that have no place to sleep, no water to drink, no food to eat, no medical supplies for their wounds. That's the most important thing. That's why giving money now in small amounts, by, you know, texting "Haiti" at 20222 or going to the Red Cross or going to my web site for the U.N. at clintonfoundation.org/haiti earthquake. Any of those efforts, even if you just have $5 or $10 to give, this is a big deal.
These people, the next week or 10 days, think how you would feel if you lost everything, you were wandering around streets at night, they were all dark, you were tripping over bodies, living and dead, and you didn't have water to drink or food to eat. That's what we're facing now. That's what we've got to get through now.
Once we get through that, you will see Haiti rebound. I know this country, and they have made a decision to claim the future for the first time in my lifetime, we can do this if we can survive the next week or two. That's why everybody's help is so important.
ROBERTS: President William Jefferson Clinton, good to talk to you this morning, sir. Thanks for taking the time and good luck with the relief efforts.
CLINTON: Thank you, John.
ROBERTS: All right.
CHETRY: Great to get a chance to talk to the former president, and he sounds quite optimistic about it.
ROBERTS: Yes and he was quite effective in the campaign with Bush 41 after the tsunami in raising money. So we'll see if people are just opening up their wallets, digging deep in their pockets, giving all kinds of money. So, you know, the more appeals there are out there, the more money is going to be raised. And the fact that he actually is involved on a personal level, too, with Haiti and in his job with the United Nations, you know, can't help but help.
CHETRY: Absolutely. All right. Still ahead, gridlock at Haiti's Port-au-Prince airport is causing some problems as we've been talking about. We have planes carrying relief supplies, and the workers can't get in and out. So the air force is now creating a makeshift air traffic control. They're trying to create some order to the place. Dozen of planes are overcrowding the tarmac.
And meanwhile, more relief is simply circling the skies above because there's nowhere to put them. Our Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence is at the airport. Hey, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kiran. I was told that on a normal day, this airport would handle between 25 and 30 flights. At about 3:30 in the afternoon yesterday, they had already handled about twice that. That's why we saw those planes circling in the air, because the planes on the ground simply could not either unload all their supplies, or load up the people to be evacuated quickly enough to clear space. There was only so much space on this single runway.
Yesterday we also saw some problems at the port. We walked down that road, saw how the road had completely buckled, the main crane that would lift off a lot of containers had been bent, it was partially submerged in the water. Well, just a few minutes ago, we just talked with the U.S. ambassador to Haiti, Ken Merten, who said right now they have found another port, another pier. It's about 20 miles north.
He said at first inspection it looks to be relatively undamaged. Now, he did say it's a lot smaller than the main pier, it can't handle that same load. But right now they're investigating starting to possibly offload some things on to that pier and then move them by vehicles down into the city.
Another thing I asked him about, which was a big question we had, is the state of the Haitian government. The president, the prime minister, how much control do they have right now. He said it is a challenge for the Haitian government. He said they have a very, very tough time right now with communicating with them, keeping up communication with the Haitian government.
He said what they've had to do is set up standard meeting times where he, at the US -- the US Embassy, the Brazilian -- some other countries that are very -- have a -- have a large force here, will set a set time to meet with Haitian government officials to try to work out some of the logistics and problems.
But he definitely made a point of saying that -- that definitely there -- there are some issues inside the Haitian government right now when it comes to communication and having overall control of the -- of the country and the city of Port-au-Prince.
CHETRY: Well, you know, we just -- we just heard Former President Clinton talking about how there are people are just wandering the streets. They don't know where to go.
Is there any communication, at least -- are there some places where people know to amass and perhaps that's where some supplies can come in? There seems to be a big disconnect where, you know, getting the -- the relief to the people that need it where they are, versus all of this relief that we see piling up at airport?
LAWRENCE: From what I've been able to determine, they're trying to determine the best places to stage those areas. I don't think you'll have one main staging area. I think what you may have are -- from what officials here are telling me -- are several areas, scattered throughout the city, where people can be huddled into those areas.
I think one of the key things is going to be just a couple days ago we were standing right out -- outside on the other side. People were hungry. They were thirsty. A policeman pulled up with sandwiches and bottled water, and they started handing it out. But, as they ran out of that food, people were pushing and shoving their way to the front. Some of the weaker people, some of the women were getting pushed back in the crowd. That was just a crowd of 30 people. What's going to happen when that crowd is 300 or 3,000 people?
That would be the huge challenge for some of the security forces and possibly even the US military going forward.
CHETRY: Yes. Sure thing. You're right.
Chris Lawrence at the airport in Port-au-Prince this morning. Thanks.
ROBERTS: Sometimes it's the waiting, the not knowing that's the hardest thing in a time like this. And here at CNN, we have made it our mission to try to connect people to their loved ones.
Pictures of the missing had been pouring into iReport.com, our CNN iReport website. These are just a tiny fraction of the photos that we've received.
Our Betty Nguyen is standing by with some names to go along with the faces. Good morning, Betty.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I'm going to show you how you can actually work this site and upload pictures and information about the missing loved one, and I'm also going to show you how people have found their missing loved ones.
So let's go -- originally, right here, to our home page, and the best way to put your information out there and search for a missing loved one is to click on this link right here. And what that will do is take you to this page, and you will see we have 338 pages of pictures of missing loved ones, and -- and they go on and on.
I'm going to take you to the next page right here, because there -- is this person right here, and this is a good example of what you need to do. Not only do you need to put a picture up, but give us some information. We have this lady's name, we also have where she was last seen in Port-au-Prince. But also key is to provide a contact, whether it be a phone number or an e-mail address, that way if someone has seen her, there is a way to contact you about your missing loved one.
And we have several pages of people who indeed have been found. So, this is the beauty of this site. Thirty-nine pages of people who have been found. Let me give you an example right here.
This is Paulna Limage, and they originally were looking for her with the information. And then, down here, you can see where she has been found alive. It says the house was destroyed, but that is OK. Absolutely, in a situation like this, you know, material items really don't matter as long as their loved ones are found.
So again, the best resource for this is to go to our home page, or you can just simply go to cnn.com/haitimissing, and there are information there. There's a whole list of how you can upload that picture and all the details, and it really walks you through it. And it is a successful site, because indeed, John, we are finding people, and -- and that's the beauty of this.
ROBERTS: All right. Betty Nguyen for us this morning, connecting faces with other people. Thanks so much for that.
Fifty minutes, 10 minutes to the top, 50 minutes (INAUDIBLE) 10 minutes to the top of the hour. We'll be back with more of our special coverage on Haiti right after this. Stay with us.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It is 52 minutes past the hour.
We're going to continue our coverage of the massive earthquake in Haiti in just a moment. First, though, we get a quick check of the travel forecast for this Friday morning.
ROBERTS: Let's head down to Atlanta. Rob Marciano is standing by in the Weather Center. Hi, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys. A pretty decent storm developing across Texas that'll be affecting the Southeast over the weekend. In the meantime, some morning fog will slow down your travel through the midsection of the country.
Heavy rain in the forecast for Houston down towards Corpus Christie. Slowly, this will be moving off to the Northeast (ph), so there will be spots where the rainfall will be heavy enough and a long enough duration to where we will see some flooding. As it progresses to the East, the cold air remains north of Canada. So everybody stays at or even, in some cases, above average. But above average rainfall across -- expected across parts of the Southeast.
All right, a full solar eclipse happening on the other side of the world earlier today. We first take you to the Maldives where they saw a spectacular sight, China as well. Kenya saw some of this. So this -- this is of the new moon that's crossing in -- in front of the sun, and to tie this in to earthquakes, there are some theories that full and new moons tend to trigger earthquakes. That hasn't been proven, but this earthquake in Haiti, John and -- and Kiran, certainly came days -- came just a few days before this new moon.
Back over to you.
CHETRY: Wow! All right. Thanks so much, Rob.
We're just also getting word that the aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson that we talked about, it's going to be a key area for these helicopters to take off and planes to land as well, is about 30 miles northwest of Por-au-Prince, right off the coast of Haiti. So they're getting closer right now with much needed help.
ROBERTS: All right. It's 53 minutes after the hour. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
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CHETRY: Fifty-five minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
We've been talking about relief agencies rushing to get earthquake victims what they need to survive in Haiti. Food, water, medical supplies, and also the millions of Americans who are donating record amounts, particularly online.
ROBERTS: Yes. The help is desperately needed, but there are scammers out there -- there always are in these occasions -- who'll take advantage of people's generosity. So how can you be sure that you are giving to a legitimate organization?
Our Alina Cho tells you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (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?
CHO (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 Liza Szarkowski says these early days are crucial.
CHO (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 experts say getting your money to the right organization is key.
Rule number one, think big.
TREVOR NEILSON, 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 UN is such an attractive place to donate money right now, or the Red Cross.
CHO: UNICEF is a UN 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 costs $0.07 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, a -- literally a safe haven.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Also important to know that if you donate using a credit card versus a check, UNICEF says that is as good as money in the bank, an immediate transaction. Charities like UNICEF can then take that money and start ordering supplies right away.
And charity experts say later there will be a need for nongovernmental faith-based organizations to help with that long term recovery, but right now, guys, donations should be made to the biggest charities, charities like UNICEF and the Red Cross, the people who are there right now on the ground providing emergency relief.
ROBERTS: Yes, because as President Clinton was telling us, the immediate need is to get massive amounts of supplies in and out to the people.
CHO: And that's right. You know what? Very quickly, important to point out too, what's different about what's happening in Haiti is the infrastructure has been obliterated and -- and they weren't prepared to -- to get something -- have something like this happen to them in the first place. I mean, the infrastructure was weak as it was.
So imagine trying to get those supplies in. As you know, very, very difficult task. And trying their best, but the biggest organizations are the best equipped to do it.
CHETRY: Right. Also organizations that are already there, not ones that have to come in. For example, Doctors Without Borders already operating out of Haiti and they're there...
CHO: That's right. And UNICEF. They've been there since 1949.
ROBERTS: Alina, thanks so much for that.
Top stories coming your way in 90 seconds. Stay with us.
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