Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
Haiti in Chaos; Bringing Relief to Haiti; Close Race for Kennedy Seat
Aired January 16, 2010 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody from the CNN Center here in Atlanta. This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It's January 16th. We have so much to tell you today. But thanks for joining us. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: I'm T.J. Holmes. It's 9:00 a.m. where we sit here in Atlanta. 6:00 a.m. on the west coast. We are glad to be here with us. We have a lot to get to, developing out of Haiti this morning.
NGUYEN: Yes. We'll be dedicating the majority of our show to the relief efforts on the ground. We also are going to talk to Haitian- Americans who are looking for loved one and those who also found family members. So, let's get right to it.
HOLMES: It is morning in Haiti. Hundreds of thousands of people spent another night in the streets surrounded by rubble and death. Time and hope running out for people searching for loved ones alive in that debris. First 72 hours most critical for search crews but we are now in our fourth day. Bodies are being put in mass graves just outside the capital city.
The Secretary of State Hillary Clinton scheduled to arrive in Haiti sometime today. She is going to monitor the aid situation. The U.S. has some equipment and supplies there now. More on the way. Also the International Red Cross heading in with a convoy of supplies as we speak, the aid convoy driving in from the Dominican Republic because of the logjam at the Port-au-Prince Airport. There's a 50-bed field hospital and staff in that Red Cross convoy.
NGUYEN: Well, we do have several correspondents and crews in Haiti, right now. Chris Lawrence is standing by live for us. And Chris, day after day we've looked at desperate attempts to get people out of the rubble, people needing food. They need medical treatment. Does it look any better today than it did this time yesterday?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, I think the one thing that I noticed the big difference is probably, perhaps less people. Yesterday we saw is a lot of people with suitcases, with bags getting on buses and we've been told a lot of people are trying to get out to their families in the country side where perhaps the damage wasn't so great.
I want to kind of set the scene for you to give you an idea of what you're looking at here. The presidential palace is just behind me. So if you're in the United States, if you've ever been in New York City or Washington, D.C. think of this as sort of like Central Park or the National Mall. If an earthquake or a disaster happened in Washington or New York, that's probably where you would go. It's a central meeting place.
Every night this entire park fills up with people who want to sleep more, you know, as a large group, and then as the sun comes out people start walking around and going about their day. What you'll see here a little bit is, you know, you see people trying to wash up. You see mothers with their babies, trying to feed their babies, trying to change diapers even as best they can to keep their babies clean.
You see a tremendous amount of people walking around with masks, trying to cover their nose and their mouth. That is just because of the incredible smell from all of the decomposing bodies. I will say we've seen a tremendous difference in that. Just over the past, past day or so, before we were seeing bodies literally piled up on the street. But a couple of nights ago we did see front loaders and dump trucks coming by and starting to remove those bodies. It's hard to watch when you see bodies handled that way, knowing that someone's mother.
There were bodies of children being handled that way but there is also a tremendous health risk to have those decomposing bodies and I can tell you here, I mean, it's early in the morning, it's sweltering hot already. A lot of people are using the shade from a tree here, taking blankets, trying to make tents, anything to just kind of keep the sun off of them even for just a couple of minutes -- Betty.
NGUYEN: And Chris, as we spoke earlier you mentioned that there are loads of food and water at the airport. Any indication as to how that is getting to the people in need and if that's going to happen any time soon?
LAWRENCE: Well, a lot of the local businesses are pitching in. In fact I think in the next hour or so we're going to show you like one of the areas where, you know, people can come up and use a hose to kind of fill up their water. We know some of the aid agencies are giving out water purification tablets. Sometimes that's a lot easier than trying to ship water. Water is very heavy. It takes up a lot of space to try to transport water.
But if you can give people water purification tablets they can take the water that's already here, drop the tablet and then stir it up and that water is sterilized and OK to drink. We've seen some of the trucks out here, not too far away from me with water lines. People being able to get water. Food is a little bit tougher to get right now. I think a lot of people very hungry. You know, you can see some of the trash.
You know, people went through what they had, what they were able to grab in the aftermath of the earthquake. But dire need for food. And I think in some respects too, shelter. It's tough when you see a lot of older people, a lot of mothers with very, very small children. It's hard to be outside. Most of these people were not homeless at the beginning of the week. Tuesday, early Tuesday afternoon most of these people had homes. Now they don't. And that is a very, very tough adjustment -- Betty.
NGUYEN: No doubt. It seems one problem piled upon another there. Great reporting, Chris. We'll be checking in with you shortly. You know, doctors and nurses, they have returned to a field hospital in Port-au-Prince. Hours after the U.N. ordered them to leave over security concerns.
Our own Sanjay Gupta was the only doctor who stayed behind overnight. He worked all the way through the night and he checked in to tell us about what he experienced. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): As you know by now, we had an unusual night, the doctors that were caring for these patients were asked by the United Nations to leave and we decided to stay and try to take care of these patients who otherwise would have been abandoned.
We didn't know how this was all going to end but we know more patients even came in throughout night. Patients with head injuries, patients with legs that had been either fractured or even amputated. These are the types of injuries that are happening here.
But just a short time ago, the doctors did return. These Belgian doctors and they are back to taking care of the patients, and I have sign out on what was going on with all these patients, so they can go forward with their care for the future.
Certainly a lot is going to come out of this but this is the most important point for me, patients are all doing great and they're all going to get great care.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right. Well, you know, the events over the past 12 hours have really amazed a man who spearheaded the relief effort in New Orleans after Katrina. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore is with us this morning. And General, you spoke with us earlier. And when we think about them prioritizing this being the U.N. or whoever is in charge down there, what should be first and foremost right now because the desperation is growing by the day.
LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY (RET.), CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely. With one entrance and that is at that airport and the balance now is the priority is going in, moving in the capabilities to provide that medical support, provide clean water as well as bringing in medical supplies and how they're balancing that we're trying to bring the rest of the airborne troops in who can help with the command and control and also help with some of the local security.
But those airborne troops will need trucks and to be able to get those trucks there at the same time you're trying to move in the emergency equipment to save life and to help run the hospitals and provide medical. That is a problem. There's a logjam with only that one air field operational. I'm sure they are trying to work through how to use area air fields and drive the trucks in from other places.
But they are working through that. But it's a throughput issue with that airport. They're working hard as they can. And in setting priorities do you want troops with trucks with radios or do you want more of your first responder type help coming in along with water and food?
NGUYEN: Well, that's my question. Because there are still people trapped underneath rubble.
HONORE: Right.
NGUYEN: We heard a story earlier this morning of a little girl who had been trapped, her leg was trapped for two days. They finally chipped away at it and was able to rescue her but she died the next day because of her injuries. Something that maybe she would have survived had they had the equipment. So, how important is it and how much of a priority is it right now to get that equipment in there?
HONORE: We can wish for equipment all we want. We got to work with what we have on the ground. We got to (INAUDIBLE) 16 helicopters. We got to get communications to where those doctors are so when they get a case like that little girl they can fly her directly out to the Carl Vincent that has got emergency medical capability on it.
And we got to be able to ferry those patients from the aircraft carrier, from the spot on the ground to the aircraft carrier, stabilize those patients, then have to move them back to the air field to ship them out of the country.
Trying to maintain those patients in country is a losing battle. And getting more helicopters there is key. Look, after Katrina on the fourth day we had over 200 helicopters. Now Haiti is further away. But we need to see the Department of Defense mobilize National Guard helicopters.
NGUYEN: Who is in charge there? That leads me to the next question. Who is in charge? The U.N., the U.S. military, the Haitian government? Who is running this?
HONORE: The Haitian government along with the U.N. and the U.S. is a co-partner. But as we can see, we've not seen good adapting and overcoming from the U.N.. I mean they need to step up. They need to be vocal and they to adapt to the situation on the ground and allow some flexibility on security so they can, the doctors that are there, the volunteers, the good Samaritans that are there can go on and save people's lives.
NGUYEN: Specifically, we talked earlier about this, the fact that that field hospital where Dr. Sanjay Gupta is, those doctors were ordered - those U.N. doctors were ordered to evacuate. You're saying they should have stayed. HONORE: In my judgment they should have stayed. Number one. Number two, there's issues being worked out now between the U.S. command and the U.N. on what they call medical protocols. And I'm afraid we brought some of our land based protocols for medicine into Haiti as to what is the priority of care, who is going to be evacuated, who is not going to be evacuated, and two, with all due respect to the U.N., save lives and evacuate people need to be the priority.
And they need to work through this protocol and explain to the U.S. what it is because they got the capacity in the coming days to fix it. But we got to get past this bureaucracy of what the U.N. call the medical protocol.
NGUYEN: Right now, this is still a rescue operation?
HONORE: That is right. Which is to save lives and evacuate people.
NGUYEN: All right.
HONORE: And how we get the assets from the Carl Vincent and get more helicopters on the Carl Vincent because it's got the platform, it's got the fuel. And we can move a lot of helicopters and then the people on the ground, to clear a landing pad for those helicopters so they can come and pick people up.
NGUYEN: That's key to it and also the U.S.N.S. Comfort medical ship is headed to Haiti.
HONORE: On their way. That will make a big difference.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. Well, General, we appreciate your insight. We'll be talking with you a little bit later this morning. Thank you.
HONORE: Good day.
NGUYEN: Well, four days after a disaster and you still have no idea if a loved one is safe or even alive. That is the reality for thousands of Haitian-American families. But if you take just a couple of minutes, you might actually be able to help at least one of those families to get some answers. We're going to show you how.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We continue our coverage. We want to go back to the grounds in Haiti, specifically Port-au-Prince. Our Susan Candiotti just one of the number of people we do have on the ground there. We see you standing in front of some rubble. Tell us the situation where you are, Susan.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, T.J.. I'm standing outside of a five-story apartment building that was brought down by Tuesday night's earthquake. We hear from neighbors that about 30 people at least lived inside this building. There were also businesses on the ground floor. We know of at least three people who remain missing inside. And we have met a man who is related to those people who are still missing and he has a remarkable story to tell.
HOLMES: All right. Susan, we were standing by. We thought we might have some video there to roll to. I guess describe to us this more. You tell us the best that can you tell us about what you know about the people who are there, who have gotten out of there and like you said, who still may be trapped in there.
CANDIOTTI: Exactly. And maybe by then we'll be able to find the story. Of course I can tell you about what happened. We met this man at a morgue. And we found out from him that he was there to find out about his wife. He didn't have the money at that time to buy a coffin to bury her. But then he told us about what happened and it is, indeed, a remarkable story.
They had an apartment inside here. He also had a very small printing business as well. He wasn't home when the earthquake happened. When he came here after the building came tumbling down he tried to get in there to try to rescue his family. One of the things he did was take a pickup truck, there were some gates that were in front of here and he pulled them away and then you see this hole here. He was able to carry his position here.
But he took a chance and he went inside there after all his family was inside. And he managed to crawl into this dark space and made a hole in one of the walls, punching through with it a small blow torch and with his hands and maybe a hammer. After he made a hole he was able to pass some food and water in there to his wife. But his three-year-old son was also inside. He could hear him. And three other in-laws, mother-in-law, sister-in-laws but only could reach his wife with food and water.
Finally after 25 hours he managed to pull her out. Then he wanted to try to get her help. There was no one to help him. He could not help his wife. Within 15 minutes after he managed to free her she died. The story gets worse because he continued to find his son. He couldn't get to him or his in-laws. He's been trying for days to try to do that. He's been hearing their voice all along through yesterday morning. But we saw him again today and he said he doesn't hear them anymore.
We asked him if he's given up hope and he said he will not give up hope until he knows for sure what happened to them. But clearly he's looking more dejected and understandably so after so much passage of time. He's hoping that they are not crushed. He's hoping they are still able to breathe but are too weak to say anything else. T.J.
HOLMES: Susan, thank you for bringing that story to us there. One of many there. We'll check in with you again. That's a horrible story. You hear the voices for a while and not hearing them now.
NGUYEN: That's the worse. Because you have that glimmer of hope. At least you hear someone is alive. And then you try desperately to get to them. And then before you know it, the sounds are gone. Well, you know, throughout the morning we've been talking with Americans looking for loved ones in Haiti.
HOLMES: The man you're about to meet now hasn't heard anything from his mother at all, no word. He's a rapper, an artist who goes by the Haitian Fresh. I think he's got the ear piece working now but his family calls him James Carter. James, you hearing me all right?
HAITIAN FRESH, A.K.A. JAMES CARTER, MOM MISSING IN HAITI: Yes, sir.
HOLMES: All right. Man, good morning to you. Thank you for being here with us. Can you tell me first of all, your mother is who you're looking for. Have you gotten any word of any kind about what might have happened to her or where she may be?
HAITIAN FRESH: Right now. All we're doing is hearing a lot of rumors. You know, I'm hearing rumors she's OK. You know, because my brother told me she's OK and then other people, you know, saying they don't know where she is. I haven't spoken to her since like five days, six days ago that's when I spoke to her.
NGUYEN: You say your brother says she's OK. Did he see her? Did he talk to her?
HAITIAN FRESH: No, there's no seen. My brother is up here, in the United States. But he's just - like in Haiti right now with no telephone is like you have to call neighbors and my whole neighborhood is gone where I was raised. (INAUDIBLE) in Haiti. So right now it's like there's no one to talk to. Like what people see here that's what I see on TV.
NGUYEN: I understand that she was in a neighborhood where they, all these homes in that particular area use one phone and you've been trying to call that phone. What have you been getting?
HAITIAN FRESH: It just goes straight to the answering machine. That's basically what has been going on. But it's like my auntsy, I heard my auntie is dead. A bunch of people telling me different stories. You know, but I have faith in god so I know everything is going to be OK for Haiti as far as, you know, my family. I have no doubt because god don't make mistakes at all.
HOLMES: You talk about your faith there and I know a lot of people are leaning on that right now. but I guess, as you put or piece together the information, what's the best picture you've been able to put together for what may have happened where she is and, in fact, what may have happened to her?
HAITIAN FRESH: I mean like, you try not to think like that. Like it's your mom, it's your family, it's your auntie, your uncle. You try not to think like that. I don't think that way. Like I said, my mom, I want her bad and I want my brother and my family - it's 500,000 people, it's a lot of people that's dying and all I see is bodies all over the streets and I see bodies being dumped in dumpsters and nobody deserve that, you know.
Nobody deserves that at all. You're born to live and when you pass away, you at least want to go the right way, not in a dumpster and it hurts a lot. You know, it hurts a lot. It's like, but I don't want to tell you I'm sad or something. We're tired of hearing people saying how sad they are. Right now, these people in Haiti and they are being strong. So we need to be stronger than them. You know.
NGUYEN: We see by your outfit that you're urging people to help and to donate. I know that you work with Wycliff a lot. And in fact, one of his partners Jimmy O unfortunately didn't survive this quake. Can you tell us a little bit about what happened there?
HAITIAN FRESH: Wycliff, like I said, is like everything to me, that's my big brother. That's my, like they label CEO records and Jimmy O was like a best friend with the label that I'm in and I just have - I still can't believe it because Jimmy O is like, is like everything to us, to Haiti. I mean he was just chasing his dream and he went to Haiti to promote a mixed tape. You know, to promote a mix tape and to die just like that is just undescribable.
You know but like I said pray for his soul and I think about him all the time like everybody else and that's dead in Haiti. Like Jimmy O will never be forgotten. He's always going to be alive in my heart, no matter what, just like everybody else. Haiti is only going to get stronger and stronger. I just feel like if people don't have money, if you don't have money, there's something you can do.
Instead of saying you're sad, because we know everybody is sad, just get on the phone, people have a lot of major artists that's in the United States, speak out. People listen to you. You know, like I said this is big. One life is not bigger than another life. You know, like I said, like the same thing they gave Michael, the same thing they give Katrina, we're feeling the same thing. You know, so just everybody needs to do a lot, a lot more.
CNN has been doing a great job as far as covering. Wycliff is there with his family picking up bodies. And that's why I look up to him, man. And that's why I'm here. I want to be in Haiti. He's there but we need people up here to be stronger for them. And that's it. It's like having guns without bullets, man. We need ...
HOLMES: James, last thing here about your mother. Are you left now just to wait? Do you have something you can actively do try to quite frankly try to track her down or are you simply like a lot of people waiting for the phone to ring?
HAITIAN FRESH: Everyone is waiting. Like I said, last time I heard my mom is OK. The negative phone calls that I got it just went out one ear out the other. Like I said, my mom is OK. You know, my mom is OK. My auntie, I heard she is dead. My niece that's in Haiti, a rock fell on her, she has like a big scar. She's in the hospital wherever she is in Haiti. It's about everybody right now. Everyone's family right now. Whether you're blood or not everyone is family.
Right now, it's just, you know, whatever people could do, just do a lot. Just do what you can. You know what I'm saying . Pray. I mean, whatever you can do. But we need to do something. A lot more than what I see that's going as far as people that have voices. NGUYEN: All right. James, we really appreciate it. Hopefully you get some kind of official word that your mother is OK. That would be really the best news possible. But we wish you the best and to your family in Haiti as well. Thanks for spending some time with us.
HAITIAN FRESH: Yes, ma'am. God bless.
HOLMES: Well, several organizations out there have established hot lines for family members to call about missing relatives there in Haiti. And we are directing our viewers to this one at the State Department. That number that you see there, 888-407-47. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Checking top stories for your right now. Secretary of state Hillary Clinton is on her way to Haiti this morning. Once she lands she will tour the devastation and then she will work on ways to help speed relief and recovery efforts. The head for the U.S. agency for international development is also on this trip.
And we are expecting remarks later this morning from President Obama and his two predecessors on relief efforts for Haiti but that's not the only thing on President Obama's mind this weekend. He is using his weekly address to push his new plan to recoup billions from the banks that taxpayers had to bail out. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I propose a new fee on major financial firms to compensate the American people for the extraordinary assistance they provided to the financial industry. And the fee would be in place until the American taxpayer is made whole.
Only the largest financial firms with more than $50 billion in assets will be affected, not community banks. The bigger the firm and the more debt it holds the larger the fee. Because we're not only going to recover our money and help close our deficits, we're going to attack some of the banking practices that led to the crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: The banks and the Republicans are against the tax. Congress still has to approve it.
HOLMES: And now I want to talk a little more about health care now. And this has to do with the late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat. A special election will be held in Massachusetts on Tuesday and to the surprise of many, including those at the White House Republican Scott Brown is now tied with the Democrat, Martha Coakley in the polls. Can you imagine? The seat that was held by Kennedy for a half a century, could slip out of Democratic hands. It's an election that goes far beyond Massachusetts.
The outcome could jeopardize the president's health care reform plans. So he's headed there to personally campaign. I want to get more on this from CNN's deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser.
Paul, this is fascinating one to watch.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yeah, this is a huge story, T.J. And there's so much at stake, as you mentioned, not only will the winner here fill out the remaining three years of the late Senator Kennedy's term, but, as you said, health care reform, the Democrat's big push, here -- the president's big push could be luck in jeopardy. And why?
If Brown, the Republican, wins he would become the 41st senator, 41st Republican senator in the chamber and that would deny the Democrats their 60 seats supermajority. Brown has said he will vote against health care if he gets in and wins the election.
And without that 60 seat supermajority the health care reform bill, the Democrats are getting very close to pushing through and trying to pass, well, they wouldn't have all 60 votes and that want could deny President Obama a big, big piece of legislative agenda that he's been hoping for on the health care reform -- T.J.
HOLMES: it's amazing. Boy, this things keeps twisting and turning to think this one race could make the difference. One guy, one vote, absolutely could do this.
For people who maybe haven't been watching this that closely, and many thought it was a foregone conclusion that the Democrat was just going to win, explain to people who maybe not familiar. Who are these two candidates?
STEINHAUSER: Yeah, and you're right. This is Massachusetts, a state where Democrats dominate. Let's start with the Democratic candidates her name is Martha Coakley, she's the attorney general of the state. She gained fame about a dozen years ago when she was the prosecutor in that British nanny case of the shaken baby.
She was leading in the polls, T.J. by 30 points just back in early December, but this race has tightened up. The Republican, as we talked about, Scott Brown, he is a state senator, there. One other interesting thing when he was a much younger man he posed in nude for cosmopolitan. His daughter was been on "American Idol," she was a semifinalist a few years back. So, T.J., the tide has turned, here. And now, as you mentioned, this race is dead even according to the most recent surveys up there.
HOLMES: Why?
STEINHAUSER: Why? A couple things. Listen, the climate right now is really tough against incumbents, while the Democrats are the incumbents up there, they are the ones that hold the seat. Health care reform, as well, has become a huge issue, as we've been talking about. And polls suggest that a lot of people in Massachusetts aren't crazy about these health care reforms.
And finally, there's been some criticism of Coakley, the Democrat, that she kind of took things for granted that she thought she was going to win, that she was going to coast through this election, whereas Brown has been out there holding a lot more events with voters -- T.J.
HOLMES: And last thing here, don't know if we have this answer yet, but are we sure -- how quickly would, if the Republican won, would he be in place and join his Senate colleagues?
STEINHAUSER: This is crucial because that vote in the Senate could happen maybe at the end of this week coming up or the week after. The Democratic secretary of state in Massachusetts has said it may take up two weeks after Tuesday's election to certify. So, if Brown wins, and you know what, T.J., Republicans are crying foul if that happens.
HOLMES: Oh my goodness. Paul, I'll throw a little politics and some health care in here, a few other stories we're trying to get in. We appreciate you coming on. But, this is an important one that's going to affect, possibly, in a major way, the health care debate, here in this country. Thank you, Paul, we'll talk to you again soon, buddy.
STEINHAUSER: Thanks, T.J.
NGUYEN: And we're going to return to our crisis in Haiti coverage in just a minute with more on just the massive efforts to find missing victims.
HOLMES: We'll be right back. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, CNN iReport has now received more than 5,000 submissions from people searching for their loved ones.
HOLMES: Josh Levs, here now to show us how people in Haiti are using the Web to send out word that they're alive.
Good morning again, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, again, to you guys.
I was just crunching the numbers, it's close to 5,400 photos that have now been posted to the page that we're all going to talk to you about, right now, at iReport.com. What I want to do is trace it from the beginning. So, let's go to the main page of CNN. I'm gong to show you how easy this is. When you're at CNN.com, you'll see our story about Haiti and underneath it, you're going -- always going to see this: "Looking for loved ones." That's all you need to know.
You go over here, when you check this out, what happens is, it's going take you to this page that shows thousands of submissions of photos, people sending in saying my brother is missing, my sister is miss being, my niece, someone I work with, whoever it is that you're worried about Haiti. People sending these in.
In fact, we have some video now, just some of the photos that have been sent into our iReport.com, some of the latest that were put together overnight and with each one just a heartbreaking story. People giving descriptions, saying who they are, what name, what their names are, what their nicknames are, what they might have been wearing, what part of the city they were in, what buildings they frequented, other people they know.
People are going to iReport and they're posting everything they can think of about these people, they're trying to help others out there who might be in Haiti, find them. Because one thing that's interesting, is in the middle of all this devastation, people are getting online.
People in Haiti are using iReport. In fact, zoom back in for me. I want to show you something else, here. We have a page here that shows how many people have been found. Right now more than 500 submissions of people found at iReport.com. and here we have a page called "I'm alive," where people have posted videos saying, you know what, I'm OK, I'm alive, my family is looking for me. In fact, we have an example for you to watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm (INAUDIBLE), I want to say to people of (INAUDIBLE), especially my sister that we OK in Haiti.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to let you know that all my family is OK, so about my daddy and my brother, my brothers, my sisters, everything is OK. We have no problem. We all right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Now, last hour I was speaking live to a brother and sister who found their father and 9-year-old sister and know that he's OK, still worried about some other relatives, but they are using this. But, it's not just iReport. We also link you to a couple of other sites.
Zoom back in for the last time, here. We link you to a whole bunch of sites including this "Family Link" from the Red Cross. And this, which is a Web site called "Connection," which is connecting people by posting information and names.
We link you to all of this. You don't need to write down anything. Just go to CNN.com and it will give you sort of an instant tour when you click on "looking for loved ones."
Obviously, we know in the midst of a huge tragedy there are plenty -- incredible numbers of people who are -- we are hearing are feared dead. That said, we are also keeping an eye out, Betty and T.J., for these moments in which people find their loved one, people get some relief and it is really a good sign to see that happening throughout the day, as well.
NGUYEN: And it is happening and the Web site shows that especially when you see found by all those names and pictures that's just a wonderful, wonderful feeling. Josh, thank you for that.
LEVS: You bet.
NGUYEN: And our coverage does continue right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Three Presidents united at the White House over the crisis is in Haiti. President Obama and former presidents George W. Bush and Clinton are scheduled to meet there today to discuss strategy bringing aid to Haiti.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux joins us now live from Washington.
We've seen Presidents come together in the past to raise money and I imagine this is very much along those same lines.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Very much, Betty. We have heard President Obama really emphasize the importance of the first 72 hours, the emergency aid getting to that country to Haiti. But, now he's going to turn the corner, he'll talk about long- term aid and what people can do, how they can contribute personally as well as corporations to reach out and make sure that the well being of the Haitians is really taken care in a long-term kind of way.
So, he has invited former presidents Bill Clinton as well as George W. Bush to come here, meet in the Oval Office about 10:30 this morning to talk about this idea and to put out this plan. And this is not a new plan per se. There has already been something that is in the works, a model, if you will, of President Obama taking a page from President Bush.
It was back when the tsunami hit Indonesia, as well as hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans, it was President Bush that got together former presidents Bill Clinton and his father, George H.W. Bush, to sit down and to come up with a humanitarian international kind of project to reach out to folks and to get hem to contribute in a very significant way.
So, this is what it is going to be modeled after, that approach. And we've heard the president already praise Americans for their generosity and now he is saying I think you can do even more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I want to thank our people on the ground, our men and women in uniform who have moved so swiftly, our civilians and embassy staff, many who have suffered their own losses in this tragedy.
You demonstrate the courage and decency of the American people and we are extraordinarily proud of you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now Betty, it makes sense that you have these two former Presidents involved. Obviously Clinton, who is the U.N. special envoy for Haiti, he goes back, his relationship back to 1975 when he honeymooned there, but he has been very involved with Haiti for decades.
And President Bush last thing he said when he was leaving the White House is that he would, if he was called to service he would answer that call. Well, it was President Obama who picked up the phone on Wednesday evening and said I want you to be a part this was thing.
And here's how you can get information, Betty, for those of you who want information because they are asking for private citizens and companies to get involved. The Web site is www.clintonbushhaitifund.org. That's where you can get more information about how you can contribute in the long-term, beyond the immediate emergency personnel and the kinds of things that people are looking for now -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Yeah, there is a lot to be needed for the long-term, so what a wonderful way to raise money, though. And he's bringing in these Presidents who -- I'm getting word, Suzanne, I'm going to have to let you go -- I'm getting word that the USNS Comfort is setting sail, right now. This is a hospital ship leaving Baltimore. It's got some 250 hospital beds onboard, some 12 operating rooms, 500 sailors, doctors and nurses onboard.
This is a ship that, in fact, the first lady of Haiti requested specifically following the earthquake, there. And as we're watching these live pictures, right now, you see it taking off from the harbor, there in Maryland, the port of Baltimore to be exact.
But, this ship also responded to the 911 tragedy, as well as Hurricane Katrina. And a lot is needed on the ground by way of medical needs. People are just basically forming field hospitals and triage areas and just makeshift tents, whatever they can just to survive until that medical assistance gets there. So, this ship obviously is much need.
HOLMES: Well, and again this is much a welcomed sight for a lot of people. People in Haiti and certainly people here in the U.S. happy to see this help going. However, it's still not expected to get there for another, maybe even up to five days. We're still going to take a while to get there and get the help that the folks need.
Now a lot of people question, we had our General Honore answering the questions again about why it took this long for the ship to take off. Folks, that is a big old boat. That thing is some three football fields long, a football field wide, as well.
Alf of this 500 person medical staff it has, they weren't all just standing by waiting on an emergency to happen. These people are based all over the country and had to be flown in from different places. They had to get orders to mobilize. You have to get the equipment aboard. So, that's why it's taken this long just to get the ship ready to go. But it is. What you're looking at now, a live picture of the USNS Comfort leaving Baltimore heading to Haiti to help. This ship also just, last year actually did a run, a mission through Latin America, also the Caribbean, in which it stopped in several places and treated people in several different place, different islands and Haiti was among them, treated tens of thousands of people in Haiti just last year on the mission it had through the Caribbean and also to Latin America, so they have experience.
They know exactly what they are getting themselves into when they go to Haiti. Certainly what they're about to see is nothing like they saw before. We'll bring in General Honore, here who has just grabbed a seat up here next to us, as well.
General Honore, it's certainly a welcome sight, but still, like you said a little earlier, this thing not going to move too fast. Still a little while before it gets there.
HONORE: Yeah, the Comfort has been used repeatedly by southern command throughout the western hemisphere, particularly South America and the Caribbean as part of our medical diplomacy. It goes into places that have desperate need for medical care, it will stay a week or two, provide immediate medical need.
Let me say something about this crew on the Comfort. They are probably a lot fewer medical personnel than Army, Navy, primary naval hospitals throughout the country today by Portsmouth Hospital in Portsmouth Virginia that serves the big Navy, eastern Navy headquarters, there.
Many of those doctors are pulled from the active duty Navy, Air Force, whatever component they can get to put on that ship. So, they are a team that comes together as-need to man that ship. And this will have a big impact in those communities as those doctors are going on short notice, and they will make a big difference. This is a strategic asset that is really a prize that the Defense Department have kept in action.
NGUYEN: Well, help us understand exactly what this ship and the doctors and the equipment on board it are capable of handling when it comes to injuries and those who need emergency medical assistance?.
HONORE: Well, in the parlance of medical -- LEVEL-ONE, trauma. They can deal with.
NGUYEN: They can deal with just about anything.
HONORE: Level one trauma, just like if you went into Grady (ph).
NGUYEN: The emergency room.
HONORE: They've got it all. They've got dentists, they've got brain surgeons, they have, you name it, orthopedics, they can do it all. And burn. It is a full capable, full spectrum, strategic asset that is very important to our country. And when it gets there it's going to make a difference. HOLMES: We heard a gentleman say a little earlier, our correspondent was interviewing saying that this thing was ashore it would be the largest hospital there in Maryland. How long can this thing stay? What are their capabilities once they get there, now long can they hang out until they run out of...
HONORE: Again, you're dealing with the big dog, United States Navy. They have resupply ships that can come in. They can stay there for an indefinite amount of time.
NGUYEN: Indefinitely.
HONORE: Absolutely. And I suspect you will see it there a long time with doctors being changed out, because as I said, these doctors we have there are critical to the base care back in the United States. I would suspect many military families, as we did new Katrina, will be referred to local civilian hospitals because of the impact of all these doctors are going.
NGUYEN: Well, there are a lot of doctors onboard, a lot of equipment. This alone cannot meet all the medical needs they need.
HONORE: Absolutely. This is -- visualize this as a level-one trauma center. Helicopters will pick people up for immediate care to go there to get sustaining care, they might stay on that ship a few days until they can move them on and move them to sustained medical care. It's like a moving emergency room that can take care of a large amount of patients, stabilize them, and move them to a place where they can recover.
HOLMES: And a reminder to our viewers, you are watching a live picture of the USNS Comfort, that is a hospital ship that is leaving now from Baltimore, Maryland, and heading to Haiti. It will take it a few days to get down there, but a ship that has some experience now in the Caribbean, has some experience specifically in Haiti, as well, but the staff aboard some 500 medical staff, 250 hospital beds, and like the general was saying, this thing, it operates as a level-one trauma center. They can do it all there.
We need to let you go here in a second, but one thing I do want to ask, once it gets there, of course we know the ports and the docks and everything has been damage so badly there, in Haiti, how will they go about getting patients from land onto that ship?
HONORE: That's where General Keane and that headquarters in that naval task force under "Carl Vinson" will coordinate that primarily using helicopters, and by then, General Keane will establish helicopter pickup points and hopefully will have worked out the medical protocols with the U.N. so those patients, like that little girl they picked up yesterday, can immediately go to the emergency.
NGUYEN: Yeah, because unfortunately, the little girl that we're talking about, her leg was trapped underneath the rubble for a couple of days. By the time they finally got her out of there, she unfortunately died the next day because of those injuries, something that could have been helped had the emergency medical crews been there on the scene.
HONORE: Even if the "Bataan" (ph) was there, they have the capacity with the helicopters onboard to go to that site, the big thing is how do you communicate that need for support on the ground. And that's what U.N. and General Keane and his task force have to work out in the coming hours because we are running out of time. And I suspect we're going to need more helicopters.
NGUYEN: Because that first 72 hours are so critical. Even though people can survive a few days, what, up to five days, maybe a week after something like this, the numbers do dwindle when it comes to survival.
HONORE: And let us not forget, Betty, the people that have been laying there just hanging on that were rescued from the rubble and now their health is deteriorating. All them need to be evacuated. And I think we need to put a big "E" in evacuation, we need to really start pushing evacuating as many people out of Port-au-Prince as we can.
NGUYEN: All right, General, thank you so much for your insight. Of course, we'll be checking in with you and talking with you throughout the morning. We do appreciate it.
You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We want to go back live on the ground to PORT-AU-Prince, right now to our Jonathan Mann. Jonathan has been doing some reporting there for us for the past several days.
And Jonathan, even on a good day in Haiti, drinkable water is not that easy to come by. But now here we are, it's a real challenge for people trying to find water.
JONATHAN MANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. You know, you were talking to lieutenant General Honore about the USNS Comfort, which is on its way from Baltimore. The USNS Carl Vinson is right off the coast here with the ability to purify hundreds of thousands of gallons of water a day, and yet right behind me the people that you're seeing are camped out, homeless because their homes are destroyed or too dangerous for them to go into, and they don't have water.
All of that ability is just -- it's a short distance away, but it's not making much good. These are people who have been out in the hot sun for days now, and they're getting their drinking water from an unlikely source. They're getting their drinking water from a hose that's about 15 feet from here. We went to have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: In the best of times, Haiti has an epidemic of water-borne diseases. This is not a country where people find it easy to find clean drinking water, and on a day like today it's not a country where it's easy to find water of any kind, especially for these people. Most of these people here, are homeless, right now. They're staying across the street from the plaza that we have been watching through so many of our broadcasts. With the first light of day, the plaza begins to empty out, people go about the business, the routines they might still have even after the earthquake and chief among them is the business routine of finding water.
Now, you'll notice an intriguing thing. One thing hasn't changed about Haiti, so many of the people who are coming here are women and children, still doing the traditional woman's work of finding the water. And they're crowding around a hose that is their only supply of drinking water for the day. These people haven't gotten any government help, they're sleeping outside, they're running out of food. And only the generosity of a Haitian-owned hotel is allowing them to have drinking water from a single hose that they line up for patiently and try to use.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, our Jonathan Mann with that report for us, there again, a technical issue, couldn't hear us at the end, but we are fighting through some of those technical issues to get those reports out for the most part, we have been able to get those stories out to you.
NGUYEN: Yes, and we're continuing to follow the situation in Haiti. A lot more coming up. In fact, President Obama meeting with two former Presidents, George W. Bush and Clinton, as well, to discuss fund-raising efforts. And we're going to tell you about that throughout the morning. That meeting is scheduled for about 11:00 Easter today, but stay with us, we have much more to come right here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
