Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Larry King Live
Haiti: How You Can Help
Aired January 18, 2010 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY KING, HOST (voice-over): An earthquake brings a country and its people to their knees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want somebody to help me, please.
KING: We're using our reach across the planet joining hands with people around the world to aid the men, the women, and the children of Haiti.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You will not be forsaken. You will not be forgotten.
KING: We're listening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any food, any water, any nothing.
KING: We hear you. We're taking action, a two-hour LARRY KING LIVE special, "How You Can Help."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Good evening. Welcome to "Haiti: How You Can Help."
You can start right now by calling the numbers on your screen, 1- 800-4-UNICEF and 1-800-HELP-NOW.
Tonight, we're live in Haiti, New York, and Los Angeles. Mick Jagger, Jennifer Lopez, Ringo Starr, Seal, Ben Stiller and many others are here to say thank you, because your money is going to the American Red Cross and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Our celebrity guests are working the phones for the next two hours in Los Angeles and in New York. And you can talk to them.
We will also go live to Haiti, show you specifically what your donations mean to this country in ruin.
Joining us right now, Ryan Seacrest. He's the host, of course, of "American Idol." He will be in our tweet suite later. Black Eyed Peas front man Will.i.am is here, Tea Leoni, the actress and UNICEF ambassador, and Molly Sims, the actress and advocate for Haiti.
We will start by going right to Haiti, to Port-au-Prince, to a hotel where Anderson Cooper is standing by with we understand desperation boiling over, Anderson, looting, violence. What's going on?
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Well, Larry, I don't want to paint too negative a picture.
This was as far as we know an isolated incident in downtown Port- au-Prince, but it is a taste of what could occur here if security is not brought to bear on a large scale in the Port-au-Prince area. There were shots being fired this afternoon by two Haitian police officers in the air. We arrived on the scene.
A group of young men had broken into a damaged store. They were taking boxes of candles. They were selling those candles, trying to profit off other people's despair. It quickly evolved into a situation where there were hundreds of people on the street. They started bringing weapons to the street. They started battling each other over these goods.
There was no there was no one from the U.N. There are no U.N. peacekeepers on scene, certainly no U.S. personnel, just two Haitian police who were basically being employed by a local businessman to try to protect his own businesses. That businessman had given them automatic weapons. They were using them to fire in the air, but the crowd was basically ignoring them.
It ended up with a little boy being hit in the head with a chunk of concrete thrown by one of the looters off the roof. It is really a taste, Larry, of how things could be, but so far all across this city and in other areas we are seeing Haitians, they're showing respect to one another, helping one another.
In those early days, it was the Haitians themselves, before any international relief efforts got here, it was the Haitians themselves who were saving each other. And at this moment their survival is still largely, unfortunately, in their hands.
That's why what these aid groups are doing is so important. It's so important that they have the funds to do the work that they need to do, because the clock is ticking, Larry. There are still people dying, children dying right now who will die tonight because they haven't received proper medical care, medical care for something as simple as an infection, an open wound, a broken leg that could spread and very quickly in a short amount of time lead to an infection that would kill them.
KING: Anderson, before we talk quickly to Sanjay, since you have been there, are things better?
COOPER: Better -- you know, man, that's a hard question, Larry. I don't know what better would be.
Yes, you don't see as many bodies in the streets, but the bodies are still out there. They're just crushed beneath rubble. You don't see as many people just wandering the street aimlessly, but they still have nowhere to go and they can't go to their homes and they're sleeping in parks. People still come up to you and ask you for water. People still come up to you and say, can I get a message to a loved one in the States?
I just went to a town yesterday where aid workers had just gotten there. That was five days after this earthquake. And that was the first time they were seeing any international aid. Whatever is coming, it has got to come quickly, because there are an awful lot of people in desperate, desperate need.
KING: Thanks, Anderson. We will check with you later.
The numbers are appearing on your screen. There's lots of way you can donate. You're donating to UNICEF and the American Red Cross.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is at a hospital at Port-au-Prince. He's CNN's chief medical correspondent, a practicing neurosurgeon. And I understand he performed surgery today on a Haitian girl.
What was it about?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what happened, Larry, is that I was -- actually, I got a call from the -- from one of the carrier ships off the coast of Port-au-Prince. They were saying -- and this really acknowledges some of the problems that are going on here -- they simply could not find a brain neurosurgeon, a brain surgeon, to perform this operation.
Kimberly (ph), a 12-year-old girl, just a delightful young girl, she was an earthquake victim as well. She had a piece of shrapnel that had actually gone through her skull and into her brain and for several days really was not getting any care whatsoever. She was evacuated and eventually taken to the carrier ship, and that's when I was called and flew on to the carrier ship to help take care of her, and, you know, obviously, honored and delighted to do so.
But, as you mentioned, I am in a hospital. And there is a critical need that is ongoing over here. There's no question about it. One thing that is so interesting, Larry is that, with this particular natural disaster, obviously, a lot of people died at the time of this earthquake. But what's so important and what really highlights this critical need is that there are a lot of people who were injured, but still have -- or very much can be saved.
They have problems that can be treated. They have issues that can be addressed either surgically or medically, but they're simply not getting the care yet -- 75 operations performed in this particular hospital over the last three days. But I can tell you, Larry, it's just a drop in the bucket. It's improving, but a lot of work still needs to be done here.
KING: Are you saying, Sanjay, that you are seeing preventable deaths?
GUPTA: Absolutely. That is the way to put it, Larry. These are preventable deaths.
And when I say preventable, there are very simple, basic ways to prevent this, antibiotics, as Anderson mentioned, but also I performed this neurosurgical procedure, as we were talking about. I didn't have the right instruments. I had to create instruments, make them myself, because we simply didn't have those.
These are simple things to get down here. And it just -- it has to be done. These orthopedic injuries, these neurosurgical injuries, these are patients who are critically injured, but they can be saved. And they need to be saved.
And you're seeing some of them that are getting that type of care right now, but it needs to happen faster. With medical relief, Larry, you measure things in minutes and hours. Lots of other relief you can measure in days, months, even years, but with this, it's now, it's immediate.
KING: And that's why your help is needed right now. You, our viewers, your help is needed right now.
One other thing, Doctor. You have been in lots of tragic places, Katrina, tsunami. How does this compare?
GUPTA: You know, this for some reason strikes me harder. And I think part of it is because there are so many patients who are in desperate need.
I think with the tsunami, you had a couple of issues. One is that you had a lot of people who died instantly at the time of the tsunami. But the people who lived, they needed basic supplies, like food and water.
With the earthquake, you had a lot of people who were displaced, but they were also injured as a result of this. Either they had rubble on top of their limbs for a long time, an arm or a leg, they had head injuries. Now they have been out in the streets for six days or so without food and water. So, you can imagine all of that coming together. It just makes it worse.
It was also so focused, Larry, in this nearly devastated area of Port-au-Prince, focused. With the tsunami, it was sort of more spread out across several countries. So, you come here, it is an unbelievable sight. And it's gotten better over the last week. But it's -- again, a lot of work needs to be done.
KING: We will be checking back with Dr. Gupta in hour number two of this two-hour special.
Answering our phones in Los Angeles right are actor Christian Slater, David Spade, Seal. And he will be performing later "People Get Ready." And "Survivor"'s Jeff Probst and (INAUDIBLE) raising money for his people in Haiti, Sarah Ferguson, the duchess of York, Maria Bello, an advocate for Haiti, who has seen firsthand how much they needed -- they need our help.
And, in New York, Susan Sarandon, Russell Simmons, Pete Wentz, Ashley Judd, and "Gossip Girl"'s Penn Badgley.
Want to see what your money is buying for the people of Haiti? Tea Leoni will show us when we come back. They need your help. Please call the number at the bottom of your screen. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Claude Adol (ph) says his restaurant and home have been destroyed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody is dead. So, all my (INAUDIBLE) are dead. So, I lost everything. All I got here is my bag. That's all. Nothing left.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back doing what we can for the people of Haiti on another grim day, death estimates as high as 150,000. There are reports of looting and growing desperation. Please help by calling the numbers you see on the screen. Please do it right now. You never feel better than when you help someone else.
Ryan Seacrest, how has this affected you?
RYAN SEACREST, ENTERTAINER: Just by watching this coverage -- I have never been there before. But by seeing these people and especially these kids over the last few hours today, even on CNN, seeing the images of some of these kids who have no place to go who are laying injured on the street, and, as Sanjay just said, the need is immediate. I mean, they need help right now. And so that's why we're here with you tonight.
KING: Will, have you been to Haiti?
WILL.I.AM, MUSICIAN: Yes, I have been to Haiti.
It's sad watching, you know, the outcome of the earthquake and seeing all the people suffering, like Seacrest said, with no place to go. But when I was there, people were suffering with no place to go.
KING: Before this.
WILL.I.AM: Before this. It's the lack of infrastructure and corruption, no health.
So, when I see this these images, you know, if -- those people that are out there that have -- that can help, help. It's important for humanity, for love, life. You have to help. You have to help for that reason, and you have to help for America, because We don't have health.
What if something was to happen to Mississippi or New Orleans or any inner city in America? Guess what? Those people don't have health. And we're going to need help. So, you have to help, just like we would need help if something was to happen to us. KING: Tea, you're a UNICEF ambassador, national board member of U.S. Fund For UNICEF. Their one of the recipients of who we're contributing tonight.
You have -- what do you have with you there that UNICEF provides?
TEA LEONI, ACTRESS: Well, I was just going to say, Larry, when we were talking about what's the difference between this crisis and maybe the tsunami, after the tsunami, we were able to prevent the death of any child in sort of the second wave of a disaster, which is bringing in supplies.
We're looking at a much more desperate situation here. One of the things that we're sending over, which is sort of so urgent, the children of Haiti before this crisis, as you were saying, were already in sort of a dire situation. And kids who are malnourished are much more susceptible to suffer from disease. They're more apt to control cholera or dysentery.
(CROSSTALK)
LEONI: So, these, right here, for instance, are oral rehydration packets. So, one packet costs about 7 cents.
KING: Show it to the camera.
LEONI: This is an incredible lifesaving tool that we have used.
Also, here, this is something -- I'm a huge fan of Plumpy'nut. Plumpy'nut is an instant meal. Basically, $8 will provide enough Plumpy'nut to feed a child for a month. And what's specific to this product is that you don't have to mix it with water.
So, we -- that's very important right now, while water is such a -- clean water is so scarce.
KING: And, Molly, you're a global ambassador for Population Services International's child survival. You have been to Haiti?
MOLLY SIMS, ACTRESS: I was in Haiti in October, and it was -- words can't even describe what I saw, and I considered myself a very well-traveled person.
It was absolute devastation. These people, first of all, are amazing, but what I saw and what I have heard -- the filmmaker David Belle is down there now. They describe it as a nuclear bomb going off. They had no safe water, drinking water then. Imagine now. And that's what I'm here to say, exactly like Tea with the oral rehydration, getting clean water, because now it's not the first wave. It's the second wave. It's getting clean water so the disease doesn't spread.
KING: You're helping your fellow man when you contribute tonight. Please help.
Still to come: a very special message from Colin Powell. And we will enter our tweet suite with Ryan there. And after this, it's an interactive place where you and our Twitter all-starts can talk. Mick Jagger is coming, too.
Stick around and help the people of Haiti.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: A lot of people starting to push and shove their way, trying to get up to where the food is. There's a lot of small kids in there that are getting jammed up against other people, or they're just getting pushed out of the way entirely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back with "Haiti: How You Can Help" -- 1-800-4- UNICEF and 1-800-HELP-NOW.
Please, please do your part.
Ryan Seacrest is in our tweet suite, and our celebrity guests will be responding to your messages on Twitter. Tweet to me at kingsthings or use the hashtag CNNHelpHaiti, all one word.
Ryan, who is there? What are we doing now?
SEACREST: Well, Will is standing here and helping me navigate this. Maria is online right now into an account.
And the idea here is, as you are helping out, as you are seeing these images and hearing these stories, we want you to join the conversation and interact with us.
Maria, who are you talking now?
MARIA BELLO, ACTRESS: I'm on a Web site called artistsforpeaceandjustice.com. It's an organization that supports A children's pediatric hospital in Haiti -- 100 percent of the proceeds donated go right to the ground to the work that Father Rick Frechette is doing on the ground.
SEACREST: Well, thank you for being here.
Some of the first images that came out of Haiti came via Twitpic on Twitter. People are able to speak to their families or at least let their families know that they're alive around the world via Twitter.
Jared, what's going on with you, buddy?
JARED LETO, ACTOR: I'm actually pulling up my credit card and participating in -- Habitat for Humanity has a program called Hope Builders, where you can actually build a house virtually. So, you can start now with the reconstruction and helping people out through Habitat for Humanity.
So, I'm just filling in my information. And I saw through Twitter that people were actually building houses around the world, some of our fans, so I'm kind of joining in and helping the cause that way.
SEACREST: It is true, social media, although we use it for some inane things and things that aren't as important on a regular basis, in situations like this, when we have these crises, they have proven to be very, very important in terms of relaying information.
Alyssa Milano, thank you for being here.
ALYSSA MILANO, ACTRESS: Oh, it's my pleasure. Thank you for having me.
SEACREST: So, what's touched you and made an impact in terms of this story and seeing it over the last couple of days?
MILANO: Well, as an ambassador for UNICEF, I have actually been in the field. I was in Angola, Africa, two years after the peace treaty was signed. I was also in India six months after the tsunami. So, I have been in the field and witnessed places like this that are so impoverished, it's unfathomable.
And to see these images that we see every day, what we are forgetting is the other sensory experiences. And what I am reminded of about my field experience is the smells and what the temporary shelters look like and feel like and what it feels to be covered in dirt. And I'm just touched and moved by the passion of humanity and everyone getting in there.
I think we innately want to help. Sometimes, we just don't know how, and social media, Twitter in particular, has given me such a great platform to feel like I'm actively doing something.
SEACREST: And we appreciate you being here.
Jeff Probst is here as well. The president actually sent his first tweet. We have it back here. "President Obama and the first lady are here visiting our disaster operations center here." He sent it through the Red Cross.
Jeff Probst, you're new to this, I understand.
JEFF PROBST, ENTERTAINER: Yes. That's got to be a first, the president.
SEACREST: The president. It's the first time a president has ever used Twitter. That's right.
PROBST: Yes, it's amazing. Yes, I'm new to Twitter, but it's been great.
In fact, Prosel (ph) just writes back and says: "Thanks to all you guys for your help. I donated earlier, but I'm going to donate again tonight."
And something that's been inspiring to me is how kids are responding to this here in America. They get it. They get that there are other kids that now need shoes or need help. And that is really encouraging to me.
SEACREST: Immediacy is the operative word right now, as we heard at the top of the telecast -- Larry, back to you.
KING: Oh, thanks so much, Ryan.
Thank all of you. Please keep it up. Call your friends and tell us -- tell them what's going on.
Joining us from now Washington, General Colin Powell, former secretary of state, former chairman Joint Chiefs. Here's his message for you and the people of Haiti. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States government and governments throughout the world, the United Nations, international relief organizations are all doing their best to stabilize the situation, to bring order to Haiti, and then start to flood in the necessary supplies needed to sustain life.
But, you know, the challenge is going to be great and it's going to be long-enduring. Once the folks who have lost their lives have been dealt with in as dignified a manner as possible, and once we have taken care of those who have been injured, then the work begins. Then we need reconstruction. Then we need to take care of the living.
And taking care of living is not just a matter of giving them food and water for a short period of time, but helping them rebuild their homes, rebuild their schools, rebuild their churches, rebuild their government.
And, so, I'm asking everyone who is watching tonight to find a way to give and then give some more, and to give over the long term for the people of Haiti. There are many organizations you can give to. All you have to do is look online or look at the organizations that will be mentioned in the course of this show. But give.
This is the time for all of us watching, all of us here in America, all of us watching elsewhere to give to people who are desperately in need, people who are wondering if the rest of the world is there for them.
The answer has to be yes. So, I'm asking everyone, do what you can to help the people of Haiti? The best way to do it is to donate money to those organizations that know how to deliver the needed relief, the needed supplies. Whatever you do, don't just click this off tonight. Find a way to give. Give online. Mail in. Call in. But, above all, give.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: Colin Powell.
We're going to New York, Susan Sarandon, Ashley Judd, and Russell Simmons, next.
Keep the calls and tweets coming.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Welcome back to Haiti: "How You Can Help." And you're helping. Keep on helping.
We're joined by our guests in New York, Susan Sarandon, the Oscar-winning actress and activist and goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, Ashley Judd, the actress and activist, and Russell Simmons, the music mogul, entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Ashley, first with you, what is this family-sized water purification system you have? What does that do?
ASHLEY JUDD, ACTRESS: Well, as your other guests have been stressing, Larry, safe drinking water is an immediate and urgent need in Haiti. And unsafe drinking water can severely exacerbate already disastrous conditions.
And, so, Population Services International, the public health NGO with whom I work, has been in Haiti for 20 years. And one of the many things that we do to empower and protect health is make safe for drinking even the most contaminated water, water that can have microbes, parasites, bacteria, even fecal matter.
This sachet costs 10 cents. And a family can stir this water for about 30 minutes. After the process of having stirred it, the water is what is called deflocced (ph). All of the contaminated matter is separated. And then you strain it with a T-shirt or whatever kind of material you have available, so you would take this, for example. And we had a towel, but it's too thick and plush.
You would go like this, and all of a sudden out of the nastiest either river water, sewer water, creek water where even livestock has been defecating, you may drink and stay healthy.
It costs one cent per liter, 50 cents for a family of four for an entire month. We also help supply the rehydration salts that Tea was talking about. And right now, PSI is working with our partner, the Red Cross, supplying 1.1 million sachets of these.
And I would love for people to go online and donate even 50 cents to help a Haitian family of four have access to safe drinking water. It's extraordinary.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Wow. That is sensational.
JUDD: It's extraordinary. (CROSSTALK)
KING: Susan...
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Hold on one second.
Susan, Susan, what about Artists for Peace and Justice and Doctors Without Borders. You are involved with them, right?
(CROSSTALK)
SUSAN SARANDON, ACTRESS: That's right.
Well, I was really excited. I talked to Paul Haggis this evening on the phone, the Academy Award-winning director and writer. And he personally is taking money and supplies to Haiti, because, you know, as Colin Powell was saying, be careful where you send your money.
You want to make sure, because the infrastructure is down, that you have -- you verify that your money is going to get to where it needs to get. They have the only standing pediatric hospital functioning in the slums. And he's personally taking money and supplies down.
The name of the hospital, Saint Damien. Saint Luke's is the hospital for adults, where they're dealing mostly with amputees. They have been there for 22 years in this area. They're very well- connected. And he's covering every cost that's aside from the donations. So, 100 percent of what you give -- and the Web site -- will go directly there.
And the Web site is artistsforpeaceandjustice.com. So, you know your money -- I hate to -- a lot of these organizations are verifiable. And what you need to do is make sure that the organization that you choose is still standing and there are people that can process that money and get it where it has to go.
And that's very, very important, because, at times like this, with this much chaos, you don't want to be donating somewhere and not have it get to where you want to. And as Ashley was saying, even before this, 46 percent of the country didn't have clean water. So, now you can imagine what -- what is going on there. So...
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Yes.
Russell, is the -- is the music industry getting behind this drive?
RUSSELL SIMMONS, CHAIRMAN, HIP-HOP SUMMIT ACTION NETWORK: I think the leader of the charge and maybe the most valuable resource that we have is Wyclef Jean. I was with him last night for a meeting with him and his advisers and left this morning for his press conference. And he laid out a plan which I thought was a pretty obvious one. I tried to speak to the White House, which I did. I actually spoke to the White House and others about engaging them in his plan.
His plan was to evacuate the people from the cities which are almost like a morgue, and if we can build tents, you know, so quickly to go to war, we can build tents to house two million people or so outside of the city. And then you can give them doctors safely, and you can give them food safely, and you can start a process to then clean up the mess. So that was his plan that he promoted today, and I think that's a great message. And that's a great process we have to start. That's maybe the first step.
KING: Russell will be going over to our New York phone banks in a few moments to talk with the people there. Kobe Bryant, Ringo Starr and Seal are coming up.
In the meantime, let's hear from you. Call the numbers, 1-800-4- UNICEF and 1-800-HELP-NOW. We'll be right back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A 21- year-old man is pinned on his side under a slab of cement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My life is in your hands.
CANDIOTTI: Please hang on.
He does.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Welcome back to our "LARRY KING LIVE" two-hour special, "How You Can Help." Our celebrity guests will be responding to your messages on Twitter. You can tweet to me at Kings Things or use the hash tag CNNhelphaiti. All one word.
CNN's Soledad O'Brien is in Haiti. She joins us now to tell us about the most vulnerable victims, the children. She's in an orphanage there.
Soledad, what's the situation?
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Larry, the situation is that the orphanage has really moved outside. And I'm actually on the edge of a truck. And I'm going to step out of the shot. You can see what is in this truck.
Inside, as I move out of your way here, you will see right there, that's babies, 25 babies who are spending day and night on the floor. The caretakers are around them. Some of them are sleeping. Some of them are still up and being rocked. We gasped, frankly, when we saw the circumstances here. They moved the babies outside because, of course, people are afraid to go back inside the orphanage, which is called (INAUDIBLE), the house of babies, because they're worried about the security of that house. So they're outside.
Across the way you can hear some of the voices of the little children as well. There's a 5-year-old, some of the older kids. They're playing across the way. This is 135 children who are here. It's a real problem, because they're running out of supplies, Larry. They need water, they need diesel, they need food. They've had some deliveries.
Actually getting supplies in has been a massive, massive problem. The director here, whose name is Pierre Alexis (ph), he said to me they've had armed robbers come over the fence and have left because there's nothing to steal. They're worried about their security and they'd like to airlift the children out. But right now, they've been told that there's no way to do that.
KING: Thanks, Soledad. Nothing sadder than a child in trouble.
Tamar Hahn is a spokesperson for UNICEF. We keep hearing about aid coming into Haiti, Tamar. What about distribution? Is it getting where it's supposed to go?
TAMAR HAHN, UNICEF: It is starting to, Larry. It's starting to get where it's supposed to go. We've faced enormous challenges in the beginning from the airport to getting things uploaded to getting the supplies to where they needed to go for a variety of reasons. But now they're getting there.
We have begun to distribute water in earnest, and we will continue to do so. We're moving on to provide latrines. I've seen other agencies like WFC, like USAID, also reaching people with their supplies. So it's definitely starting to flow.
KING: Oh, thank you, Tamar. You're doing a great job. Remember when you call in, you're helping. You call into the Red Cross or UNICEF.
Winnie Romeril is a Red Cross volunteer, a member of the agency's rapid response team. She's in Port-au-Prince. What's your number one need there?
WINNIE ROMERIL, RED CROSS VOLUNTEER: I think our number one need is for money, because that gives us the greatest flexibility to respond to needs on the ground.
KING: The reporters have been talking about there being stupid deaths, people dying in Haiti who shouldn't die. Can you verify that?
ROMERIL: What I can tell you, Larry, is that in the communities where I've been walking and climbing the mountains around Port-au- Prince, we've been going out with first aid teams. You know, when the hospitals were so blocked up and people couldn't get there, a lot of Haitians are telling us that they decided just to stay in the camps or in the streets where they were and not even go to the hospitals. And now the wounds that they had have gotten infections.
You know, this is a tropical climate, and there was dust and debris in those wounds. And their bandages have stuck to the wounds. They're yellow with infection. And we're taking first aid teams and we're going in community by community, street by street, and telling people to come to first aid clinics. They're mobile first aid clinics. We're cleaning up these wounds. We're giving them antibiotics. And this is really still in the first phase of this effort.
We're also giving out water over the weekend. We handed out tens of thousands of gallons of water. We've already begun distributing other kinds of relief supplies like kitchen sets and tarps and blankets and tools so people can start building back. And we're really seeing that they're being resourceful and they're starting to get food into the city. We're seeing micro-economies spring up. It's really -- it's really exciting. It's actually -- I've been very inspired since I've been here.
KING: Thank you, Winnie.
Well, you're really doing your job, folks. In the past 30 minutes, the Red Cross and UNICEF have raised $700,000. In the past 30 minutes, $700,000. Your help is working.
You're looking at the Red Cross and UNICEF call centers in New York. Keep them busy, please.
Snoop Dogg is in the house. He wants you to know he'll take your calls. We'll check in with the phone bank next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Welcome back. Russell Simmons is helping with the phones in New York. Who do you have with you there, Russell, and how's it going?
SIMMONS: Oh, I'm on with a young lady who just made a donation to the Red Cross but said she's going to call back for UNICEF. So a lot of people, their intentions are so sweet. I don't always ask the numbers, but each person seems to be giving what they can and it's really inspiring to me.
So it is -- what's your name, ma'am?
ASHLEY JUDD: Thank you so much --
SIMMONS: Delores Myers (ph) who made a donation to the American Red Cross and is calling back to make a donation to UNICEF. Thank you so much.
KING: That's just great.
With us here in the L.A. studios, Tea Leoni remains, the actress and UNICEF ambassador. We're joined by Sarah Ferguson, the duchess of York. She is working with CARE to support relief efforts in Haiti. And our own Snoop Dogg. Where would we be without the Snoop man? He's here as well.
Sarah, you and Tea are both mothers, right?
SARAH FERGUSON, DUCHESS OF YORK: Yes, absolutely.
KING: The worst thing about this is the children being hit, don't you think?
FERGUSON: Well, I think it's very frightening to think that there's 37,000 pregnant women on the streets right now terrified about giving birth anyway to their first child and then not knowing how they're going to get the hygiene kits and the water and the care that's needed. So CARE very keen to get in there with the kits to give them the chance that they need to help them out, and, of course, UNICEF, which I think, by the way, answered some calls and I think it's pretty incredible what you've achieved, $700,000, well-done. Because it's amazing.
KING: This is heartbreaking, Tea. I look at you, look at the scenes here. How do you take this? You're involved with it every day.
TEA LEONI, UNICEF AMBASSADOR: Well, I think the only way to handle this is to look forward. We have had our first wave, our first incredible disaster. We need to work immediately to prevent a more heinous second wave and more loss of life.
When I see the images of these kids, it's obviously incredibly difficult. We're hearing about children, also the psychological effects of children who have seen both parents die in the quake. These were reports from earlier this morning at the U.S. office. And I don't know. I'm kind of speechless.
KING: Snoop, you're a dad. What are your feelings about children there?
SNOOP DOGG, SINGER: It's a horrible thing what happened. Like I said, we're here just to support it and make sure that the awareness of us helping and wanting to help. That's why I'm so happy to see that people are coming out in all walks of life to help and they get behind it so fast and it's not taking no officials or nobody from the top to tell us to do it. We're doing it on our own out of the kindness of our hearts. So, like I said, as was before then everybody is rushing to help to assist to people. They need the assistance right now.
KING: And by the way, Snoop is going to be heading over to the phone bank. When you call in, you might well be talking to Snoop on the phone.
Sarah, you're countrymen are very involved, are they not back across the ocean?
FERGUSON: I think they -- I think they'd like to do more and more, which is why --
KING: Well, they can watch us now.
FERGUSON: Exactly, and they can ring in. I think every lay person wants to know how do we do it, how do we get the water into Haiti. And I think through CARE and through all this work that you're doing, it really can spread the word. And a large amount of people over at Britain who said, great, now we know what to do.
KING: The number one thing is money, right, Tea?
LEONI: That's true.
KING: I mean, you can't ship a product?
LEONI: No, not now. There might be a time in the not too distant future when I think gifts being sent, canned goods or clothing or whatnot, there will be a time for that. It's not now. Now we need money.
KING: Are your friends in the business helping, Snoop?
DOGG: Yes. What we're putting we're putting together a lot of concerts where we'll take all the money and the money will go to the Red Cross to send the money directly there. So that way it's a positive effect. And it's right now, the money coming out and is getting sent over there right now as we speak.
KING: I'm glad we're able to do this, you know, to devote two hours to it. You know, it's one thing to report on something, and we've seeing these reports. But the feeling of being able to be in a position where we, in the media, can give back by helping the people, of course. These contributions are enormous.
FERGUSON: I think it's like a huge cry for help in the country as usual. America in my eyes, as you know, a huge -- a great trailblazer of compassion and they're reaching out now. And they're making a difference.
KING: When you ask America, America responds.
FERGUSON: Sure.
KING: When you call in, you could choose. You can call in the UNICEF number or to the phone bank number.
You're looking at our Los Angeles phone bank over there. 1-800- 4-UNICEF and 1-800-HELP-NOW.
And don't forget about our tweet suite. And John Mayer, Ben Stiller, Queen Rania, and Russell Simmons will be replying to you on Twitter. So make sure to tweet us using the hash tag CNNhelphaiti. More after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How do you feel right now?
FARADIA MORSE, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR: Oh, wow. I cannot even find the right way to describe it. And I'm going to tell you something. I'm someone who prays a lot, and I'm very grateful that I never lost faith.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: You're looking live at Haiti tonight. We're raising money for that ravaged country. Please call the numbers at the bottom of your screen or text your donations. The information is right there in front of you.
We go back to our tweet suite where Ryan Seacrest is watching over things.
Ryan, Janet Jackson, I understand, just tweeted saying, hey, you guy, I'm watching Larry King's Haiti, "How You Can Help." Please try to tune in, tweet and support the effort with me. Good gig.
RYAN SEACREST: People from all over the world tweeting. Just taking a look at the board here.
Senator Gillibrand, "very happy to support the effort. Everyone can do their part by giving generously to the relief efforts."
We are here looking at your tweets, reading them as you're donating, looking at those numbers at the bottom of the screen.
This is UNICEF on Twitter at twitt (ph) take care (ph) of people working the phone bank at UNICEF. Again, after 30 minutes into the telecast, UNICEF and American Red Cross, $700,000, which is an incredible amount of money. We need your help. We need you to participate.
Russell Simmons, as you know, who's part of the telecast, take a look there. He is tweeting as well as answering the phones.
And Jeff Probst, what are you seeing here from people? What are they saying to you?
JEFF PROBST, GAME SHOW HOST: Well, it's great to be able to talk back and forth. I love Ander Giggle (ph). Says here in my town, my church put on an old-fashioned lemonade for the Haiti fund. And Herbert Grand (ph) says Larry should auction off his suspenders tonight as part of the fund-raiser.
SEACREST: Larry, auctioning your suspenders tonight as part of the fund-raiser.
KING: You got it.
SEACREST: Should we start the bidding?
KING: Start the bidding.
PROBST: I start the bidding at $100.
SEACREST: I'm at 250.
KING: 250.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 500.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 300.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 500.
SEACREST: Jerry at 400. He's at a 1,000.
All right. We ran a thousand. We'll hold on a thousand for a second.
Also, Ben Stiller is tweeting as well. So as you're watching this telecast, as we're giving you the latest out of Haiti, think about the people who are affected, the families and especially, as we mentioned earlier, those kids.
Let's go to Tea Leoni who's now in the phone banks, I believe, answering the phones -- Tea.
LEONI: Hi. Am I interrupting? Are you on a call? Christian, are you on a call?
CHRISTIAN SLATER, ACTOR: I'm on a call with Mrs. Bogart (ph), yes.
LEONI: Mrs. Bogart (ph).
SLATER: Marilyn Bogart. Marilyn Bogart (INAUDIBLE).
LEONI: Marilyn Bogart, thank you for calling in.
SLATER: Thank you, Marilyn.
LEONI: How about Mr. Spade? Who are you talking to?
DAVID SPADE, ACTOR: This guy, he donated and he also wants to know why "Just Shoot Me" got canceled. I'm trying to keep everything together here.
LEONI: OK, David.
SPADE: It's very nice. Everyone is being great just calling in.
LEONI: What are some of the things that people are asking about when they call in? What are some of their concerns?
SPADE: Hold on, brother. They want to know where it's going, and some want it to go to drinking water. Some want it to go to different things over there. But I think this is a pretty trustworthy operation, and everyone is kind of kicking in and we're going to get it right to where it needs to go right away. LEONI: Excellent, David. Thanks.
SPADE: So we're really doing nothing. They're doing the hard work by donating.
LEONI: Great.
SPADE: Thanks, man.
LEONI: Look, everybody is so busy. I love it. It's like crazy ringing around here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody is donating. I'm telling you.
KING: Tea, let's go back to Ryan Seacrest, Ryan at the he tweet desk.
SEACREST: I'm here in the tweet suite with Will.i.am and Jared Leto right now between these two guys.
Jared, you actually lived in Haiti at one point?
JARED LETO, ACTOR AND MUSICIAN: Yes, when I was a kid, I lived in Haiti. My family was doing volunteer work there. I lived in Port- au-Prince. And I lived in (INAUDIBLE). So, you know, I have a very special place in my heart for Haiti.
SEACREST: Well, thank you for being here with us. We do appreciate it. Will, you said earlier tonight that we must help, we've got to help. What are you seeing tonight on Twitter?
WILL.I.AM., BLACK EYED PEAS: I'm seeing a lot of things on Twitter. I'm seeing people pouring out. At the same time I'm seeing a lot of -- it's -- you see negativity, people saying America should worry about America or -- you know --
SEACREST: You're seeing people say that to you here tonight?
WILL.I.AM: Yes, yes. People like, you know, people overseas and stuff. People following me from all over the world. And so just reading the responses is -- you know, it's all over the place, but a lot of people are pouring out and are showing how sympathetic they are. A lot of people don't know how to help. You know, they want to help, but they don't know how to. It's so devastating.
SEACREST: Well, an easy way to do it, just take a look at the numbers on the bottom of the screen here on CNN.
Maria, what have you seen tonight?
MARIA: Well, people are so, so incredibly generous. I mean, America is really showing up in a really glorious way.
I've been in Haiti. I've met the people there, and they really deserve our help right now. And they really need it. I mean, it was a very poor country before this happened. So it's devastating. SEACREST: Well, thank you.
Larry, you know, what struck me also at the beginning of the show, the images that we saw of Anderson in his report carrying a bleeding child away from just total destruction. I mean, there is such a need in this moment for people to help.
KING: Yes. And they sure are, Ryan, and Anderson and Dr. Sanjay will be coming back with us in hour number two of our two-hour special.
What you're watching if you just joined us, expect to see "LARRY KING LIVE" beginning in a couple of minutes, we've been on for an hour. This is our special "How You Can Help Haiti," Haiti: How You Can Help" through UNICEF and the Red Cross.
Jennifer Lopez will join our phone bank in Los Angeles, so call now.
Scarlett Johansson and John Mayer are next. And he's going to sing for you and the people of Haiti after the break. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tension mounts, desperate survivors push for a place in line. Some were left-empty- handed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: So many have such goodwill for the people of Haiti. Here's actress Scarlett Johansson with her heartfelt plea. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCARLETT JOHANSSON, ACTRESS: Hi, I'm Scarlett Johansson. You can help save lives in Haiti by donating to Oxfam. They're on the ground in Haiti providing lifesaving assistance like clean water. Please donate to Oxfamamerica.org or text Oxfam to 25383 to make a onetime $10 donation to Oxfam's Haiti earthquake response fund.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: There are so many sources to help. The two principal ones we're doing tonight, UNICEF and the American Red Cross.
John Mayer, he's always been here for us when we needed him, and now he is back for the people of Haiti. John joins us now from London performing "Heart of Life." Here's John Mayer.
(JOHN MAYER SINGING "HEART OF LIFE")
I hate to see you cry, lying there in that position. There's things you need to hear, so turn off your tears and listen. Pain throws your heart to the ground. Love turns the whole thing around. No, it won't all go the way it should. But I know the heart of life is good
You know it's nothing new. Bad news never had good timing. But then the circle of your friends will defend the silver lining.
Pain throws your heart to the ground. Love turns the whole thing around. No, it won't all go the way it should. But I know the heart of life is good.
Take those to the ground. Love turns the whole thing around. Here is a friend who is misunderstood but I know the heart of life is good. I know it's good. I know it's good.
Oh, I know. Oh, I know it's good. Oh, I know it's good.
