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Disaster in Haiti; Quake Delivers Direct Blow to U.N.; Haiti by the Numbers
Aired January 13, 2010 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Daylight reveals widespread human suffering and damage from the powerful earthquake in Haiti. Already heroic rescues to tell you about.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three of the workers from the house began the process of uncovering her. I believe pretty close to immediately, and they worked through the night.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
HARRIS: One man's daughter is saved, but hundreds, if not thousands of other people are trapped in buildings that crumbled. And the U.S. Navy will dispatch the medical ship Comfort to Haiti where a major hospital has collapsed in the earthquake.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.
Extensive coverage of the disaster in Haiti in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Bodies are being piled up right now in Haiti. It has been almost 18 hours since a powerful earthquake struck near the capital, collapsing everything from humble shacks to the national palace.
Here is what we know.
The Red Cross estimates three million people may be affected by the magnitude 7 quake. The Associated Press says it seems likely the death toll will run into the thousands.
The chief of the U.N. mission there is unaccounted for. His headquarters in Port-au-Prince, one of the many buildings that collapsed. The U.S. and other countries are preparing desperately needed aid and search teams for Haiti.
Video of the devastation is just starting to come in. We are also starting to get some eyewitness accounts of what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAREL PEDRE, IREPORTER: I was driving. I was stuck in traffic a little bit. I was talking on the phone with some friends who were doing a radio show, and I felt like my car was shaking. And what I did, I thought that some other cars hit me. And when I look in front of me, I saw a lot of people falling down and I see that the wood was shaking. That's where I realized that it was an earthquake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Haiti's ambassador to the U.S. says it is difficult to estimate the casualties, but Haiti faces a disaster of major proportions.
On CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," Ambassador Raymond Joseph said major buildings like the one housing U.N. peacekeepers are in ruins.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAYMOND ALCIDE JOSEPH, HAITIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: I know the Hotel Montana where the U.N. had its headquarters was one of the hardest hit buildings. And that's perhaps the reason why some of the U.N. peacekeepers have perished.
As I said, government, Haitian government buildings, however, were empty when it happened. But the hotel is where many of them live.
I hear that the head of the U.N., Mr. Annabi, who lives there, is unaccounted for. And I think the numbers are going to be very discouraging to us when we have all the figures during the day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: We now know it was the strongest earthquake to hit Haiti in more than 200 years.
Anderson Cooper arrived a short time ago into the devastated capital of Port-au-Prince. Here's his report last hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We just landed at the Port- au-Prince airport. I flew in a helicopter with the minister of Public Works for the Dominican Republic, who's been sent by the president to try to assess what needs the Dominican Republic can fill.
I've got to tell you, I just flew over Port-au-Prince, and seeing it for the first time -- it's a city I know well -- it's incredibly shocking. The presidential palace, as you know, parts of it have collapsed. A couple on the front of it have collapsed.
There is smoke rising from some parts of the city. People are congregating on corners in public parks, where a number people obviously have slept through the night. I passed over Cite Soleil, a city of shantytowns built one on top of the other. There is damage there as well.
It is an eerie scene. Many people just kind of standing around on the streets, not really sure what to do or where to go. And for many, there is nowhere to go.
As I said, it seems like the heaviest damage that I could see was in the downtown part, around the presidential palace. Some major buildings there, some very tall buildings, clearly having collapsed. They've pancaked, floors one on top of another. There is little heavy, earth-moving equipment in place here.
I also flew on the chopper with a man named Manuel Estrella (ph), whose company which is doing work for the IDB, the International Development Bank, they already have sent in shipments of bulldozers that they have to work on their private construction projects, but I'm not seeing a lot on the streets here right now. People really just milling around.
It is very hectic. It is confusing. People aren't sure where to go.
The scene at the airport is oddly calm. We were one of the first helicopters to arrive here this morning.
There is now, just as I've been speaking, about two small planes which have arrived with a number of relief workers, some members of the International Red Cross and others. But it is a very confused situation.
These are very much the early moments of this, and people are just slowly starting to arrive. Aid is yet to arrive.
I know there's a lot coming in the pipeline. I've talked to the World Food Program and others. They're trying to get here. But at this point it is early hours.
And you can see from the air -- what was so eerie is you can see from the air people gathered around collapsed buildings, clearly trying to rescue people inside, trying to see if there's anyone trapped beneath the rubble. But it is largely just neighborhoods standing together, trying to help one another.
It doesn't look like there's any kind of coordinated relief effort in terms of rescue at this point. It is very much neighborhood by neighborhood, people just digging through the rubble.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Wow, Anderson. I just wonder so much -- I know you got in by helicopter. Obviously, that requires a very different type of landing, because we're still trying to find out more about the aid you speak of and whether or not some of these planes can get in. Of course the hospital ship we've been talking about, the cutter that is already there in position.
When you look around, Anderson -- and again, I realize you just got on the ground -- are people carrying any water bottles? I mean, is there even the slightest bit of food or water, best that you can tell?
COOPER: You know, I really don't know the situation. I've been told that the Montana Hotel, which is the main hotel, has been destroyed. But again, I have not seen that with my own eyes.
I did not fly over Petionville, but I have been told there is widespread damage there as well. That's a mountainous area, so we would expect damage there. But very well-built homes, and Montana was a very well-built hotel.
One of the problems with so much of the construction here is that they don't use reinforced concrete. There's no steel rebars in the concrete. So buildings literally really just collapse on whoever is inside.
And I can tell you, the situation in the air is chaotic, at best. The control tower, I'm told, here at the airport is not functioning, so pilots are sort of coordinating flights by themselves.
We came very close to a midair collision over -- right over the presidential palace with a small aircraft, a fixed-wing aircraft. It came very close to our helicopter. We literally took evasive maneuvers at the last moment, and then quickly decided to just get down on the ground because the situation in the air is confusing. So, in terms of coordinating, you know, large-scale aircraft, which is what they're going to need here, while the runway looks OK to the human eye, you know, the control situation in the air is very dicey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And CNN's Anderson Cooper is on the line with me right now.
And Anderson, I know we're asking you, to some extent, to do a little bit of play-by-play for us, but what have you seen with your own eyes over the course of the last hour?
Anderson, are you there?
COOPER: Yes. Hey, I'm sorry. Sorry about that. Communication here on the satellite is going in and out.
We're just about to leave the airport. I've seen a number of U.N. vehicles, one armored personnel carrier driving by, as well as a U.N. bulldozer. So we're seeing some bulldozers, but not government -- Haitian government property.
We're seeing some U.N. vehicles, also some private bulldozers from a construction company, Estrella (ph) Construction, which the owner of the company has put to try to aid people where they can. But again, the situation is really very fluid.
Some streets you walk on, it seems almost normal. People are kind of just walking around, not in any particular direction, not really with any particular place to go.
There's -- obviously, businesses are not open. The airport is not open. The scene is just very strange.
It's actually pretty quiet at the airport. A number -- a few Dominican military helicopters landed a short timing ago, so there's a small Dominican presence here. But it's just two helicopters, some more journalists, some aid workers have come in, but it's not a large scale by any means.
We haven't seen any large, kind of, C-130s, the kind that will be needed to bring in large supplies. We're seeing, you know, one or two or three or four Red Cross workers, the kind of people who are the first ones to come in to try to assess what the needs are before some of the heavier equipment comes in.
But the situation is -- it's tense, it's very strange. We're now basically just organized vehicles, which is a difficult thing to get, and we're going to go start reporting, seeing what we can see. And we'll get back to you.
HARRIS: All right, Anderson. One more quick question.
Can you clear up the situation at the airport for us, please? And I know that there are some questions about the tower and whether the tower is operational, can bring flights in and get flights out. Can you clear up that situation? Because, obviously, time is of the essence, and that is a situation where you need as many of these aid flights to get in to Port-au-Prince as possible.
COOPER: Yes. Well, I mean, I can tell you, probably about six or seven helicopters have landed at the airport, Dominican military ones, their helicopter, three or four others as well. There's one fixed-wing aircraft which has landed. I think it was a 15-seat plane that came from the town of Santo Domingo.
But it's not coordinated. I mean, the control tower is basically out. It's there, it's physically standing, but it's not -- I'm told it's not operational.
I spoke to two pilots who just came in on fixed-wing aircraft, and they said that there was somebody on a radio somewhere in the airport who is trying to help kind of coordinate the landing of planes. But it is -- it's literally just somebody on a radio, and no one really is sure where that person is. So it's very much up to the pilots to try to coordinate amongst themselves and, you know, losing digital flight rules to kind of just look for what aircraft is around them.
So, in terms of bringing in large-scale aircraft, you know, that has not been happening yet. And I talked to one official from the U.N. who's trying to coordinate things at the airport in Santo Domingo who says they're considering or hoping to bring in some sort of radar equipment or some sort of control tower, sort of equipment that they can then take over the coordination. But at this point that has not happened.
HARRIS: OK.
CNN's Anderson Cooper leading our team effort on the ground in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Anderson, appreciate it. We'll let you go so that you can do your work.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Haiti farmers provide your morning coffee. We will give you a larger picture of this small country.
And as you just heard, our Anderson Cooper reporting from Haiti, leading our team effort in Port-au-Prince and beyond with the international resources of CNN at his disposal, trained on Haiti at this moment.
Be sure to watch his reporting tonight at 10:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: As we mentioned, this quake delivered a direct blow to the United Nations mission in Haiti.
Let's go live to U.N. headquarters and CNN Senior United Nations Correspondent Richard Roth.
And Richard, good to see you. What are you learning?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Tony, the United Nations, besides the loss of life and the destruction on Haiti, they have a huge nightmare situation regarding their own staff, their own people that were dispatched there from around the world to help the people of Haiti. The United Nations Security Council stood in a moment of silence this morning, expressing profound concern about the devastation caused by the quake in Haiti. The council also deeply saddened by the reports of loss of life and injuries of U.N. personnel and civilian personnel that serve on Haiti.
The U.N. peacekeeping director says there are at least 150 to 200 people unaccounted for. One of them is the head of the U.N. mission there, Hedi Annabi, a Tunisian experienced peacekeeping official who has served around the world. He and his deputy -- Annabi and his deputy -- are not located so far, according to U.N. officials, in the rubble in Haiti.
The current U.N. peacekeeping director, a French diplomat, Alain Le Roy, described the potential loss of life there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAIN LE ROY, U.N. PEACEKEEPING CHIEF: There are still over 100 people unaccounted for under the rubble. We don't know about their fate. To your question, some people have been extracted out of the building, but only less than 10 for the time being. Some dead, some alive. So we don't know for the time the fate of the others, but of course we are extremely, extremely concerned.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: The U.N. compound was a former hotel, the Hotel Christopher. U.N. officials said it was one of the strongest, most stable builds on the island.
The United Nations has had major devastation before to its own staff. For me, Tony, this is eerily similar in some ways to the bombing in Baghdad where the U.N. building collapsed. The senior U.N. diplomat and the top people on his staff were killed, at least 20 people. This time we could have potentially a horrific total here in the quake in Haiti.
Back to you.
HARRIS: All right. Richard Roth for us at the U.N.
Richard, thank you.
We are getting firsthand accounts of the devastating earthquake in Haiti from passengers on the last flight out. The American Airlines flight took off from Port-au-Prince shortly after the quake and arrived in Miami last night. Those on board say they feared for their lives as the quake hit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody was choking (ph), like, thinking that we were going to die, because the building -- because the airport was, like, collapsing with us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody got scared. I never saw such a thing in my entire life. You know, that was like the end of the world. And, you know, it just -- you know, there's no word actually to explain that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Haiti lurches from catastrophe to catastrophe, it seems. Some manmade, others natural.
CNN's Tom Foreman takes a hard look at a country forged by constant turmoil and tragedy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you travel from the United States down southeast here, past the Bahamas and Cuba, you come to Haiti down here. It shares an island with the Dominican Republic in this area, and that brings up the first part that we have to look at in the geography of it, the population, the human geography. Nine- plus million people, half of whom live in cities or towns, and they have about a 53 percent literacy rate.
There are also physical geographies to consider in all of this. This was the epicenter of the quake.
But if we move in a little bit closer here, you can see that much of the country is actually quite mountainous. It's about the size of Maryland, which is one of the smaller states in the United States, of course, and it's always been prone to earthquakes and hurricanes. Moving in a little bit closer to the city itself, we see more about the economic landscape here and the challenges that poses. Look at the density of the population here. This area was intended for about 50,000 to 250,000 people. It's got more than two million living here.
The economy, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Eighty percent of the people here live well below the poverty line. Some of them on only $2 a day, or even less. Very difficult living.
And as you spread out this way, you can see why it's going to be so hard for all of these people in this area to respond to this disaster because of persistent problems that have made it difficult for Haiti to even be a solid, stable place on the best of days, many times. They had four tropical storms that swept through in 2008, wiped out many roads, and a lot of the infrastructure they were just trying to rebuild. And, of course, they have had a 200-year history of civil and political unrest, with very few periods of long stability by anyone's measure.
It's always made it tough for Haiti. It will make it even tougher for this country to recover now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: CNN's Tom Foreman there.
Let's get you caught up on a couple of other top stories we're following for you today.
President Obama is leading health care negotiations with congressional Democratic leaders this morning. He has set aside four hours for today's talks as Democrats struggle to merge the House and Senate reform bills. The White House is trying to tamp down any notion the talks are in trouble.
Also happening now, the committee set up by Congress to find the root causes of the global financial meltdown opened hearings today. The nation's top bankers are the first witnesses. The hearing comes as big banks report hefty profits and bonuses for 2009, and that, as you know, is stirring new outrage from taxpayers.
Internet search engine Google says it will stop self-censorship of its site in China and may shut down its Chinese operation altogether. Google says it will stop filtering search results to appease the government after hackers tricked human rights activists into exposing their e-mail accounts to outsiders.
And when we come back, more on the earthquake in Haiti. We are gathering plenty of information from Facebook, Yahoo!, Twitter. It is a conversation with people in Haiti, and they share their experience with you.
That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: The next 48 hours or so are critical in Haiti as crews search for anyone who might still be trapped. Eyewitnesses are sharing stories of unimaginable devastation, with so many people in need of so much help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PEDRE: What I would like to see, I would like to see those people who are strong enough to start giving help to those who need it. Those people who are still bleeding, or those people who don't have a place to stay, those people who are hungry, those people who are still on dirt, those buildings that collapsed, we're still alive, and we can save their lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: We can tell you that across the country and across the world, people are worried for their loved ones in Haiti. There is an effort online that could help you locate those who are missing.
And Josh Levs -- Josh, if you would, walk us, talk us through this.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's really big, Tony. It's very interesting, how quickly it's grown.
This morning we're already talking about tens of thousands of people that we know of who are involved in this effort. Let's do this -- let's go into the screen first, because I want everyone to understand what we can talk to you about.
At CNN.com, we have a lot of video, we have a lot of the latest video that you can follow here. And what we have also found is that our own iReporters are able to access the -- are able to get online and send us video even from inside Haiti. So that's the starting point. OK?
iReporters have been able to get online and send iReports from Haiti. So, our iReport team came up with this. If you're looking for a loved one, send a picture, a video, whatever accompanying information you can about a loved one who might be in Haiti whom you have not heard from.
And we're getting lots of these already, Tony. More and more people sending in pictures.
Then we're hoping that people who are in Haiti will take a look at these and say, maybe I know this person, maybe it's a fellow missionary, maybe it's another relative out there who can actually help you locate them.
We're not the only ones on to this. Take a look over here, what Facebook is doing.
Facebook created something similar. This is the Earthquake Haiti Facebook page. This already, already has about 20,000 members. And people have been posting pictures like crazy of people that they are worried about inside Haiti.
You can see just some of the pictures here that people have been posting on Facebook saying, "Please help me find my relatives." So, between iReport and Facebook, we're hoping to be able to connect you with missing loved ones as fast as possible, using the latest real- time information.
Before I go, I also want to show you some of these powerful images we're getting. Let's get straight to this, because iReporters have been telling the story from the beginning.
Dan Morel was there in the capital, Tony. When I look at these, I like to sit on them for just a second because you can feel almost the power of that quake.
Let's go through a couple more here.
What you're going to see are giant slabs of concrete. So we're not always talking about buildings kind of turning to powder, you're seeing giant slabs sometimes that came crashing down, worst possible situation, onto people, onto cars, onto everything.
And we've got two more from him there. So just one example of what we're following online.
Those are actually Twitpic, which is something via Twitter, where people send photos to each other.
Anguish, look at that. We're obviously encouraging people to send in -- you know, if you are getting this information from us and you're in Haiti, keep in mind we don't show anything that was taken dangerously. We do a lot of vetting before anything makes the air.
Do not go to any danger ever to take a picture for anyone. But, obviously, if you have pictures and photos, send them to iReport. We'll share them throughout the day.
And Tony, I'll see you later this hour.
HARRIS: I will tell you this -- I was in Haiti more than 10 years ago when the United States was returning President Aristide to power in that country. And you take a tour of that country, you go through Port-au-Prince, you go through Cite Soleil, which is unlike virtually any place you can imagine, I cannot imagine what that country, what that city is going through today.
I'm happy we're able to get some people on the ground to share the experiences of the people who are there. I'm more happy that we're getting these iReports and first-person accounts.
Josh, when you get the information, please share it with us.
LEVS: I'll see you this hour.
HARRIS: All right. Thanks. Rescuing those stuck, helping rebuild a country, it is the job for an international crisis group. But this group is living the disaster.
We will talk to a woman who is living now in Port-au-Prince. That's coming up next.
But first, the latest on the Dow, the New York Stock Exchange right now. We are in positive territory for the morning, up 26 points.
We're following these numbers throughout the day for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: President Obama says the U.S. has mobilized search and rescue teams to help those trapped in the rubble of the Haitian earthquake.
Here is a part of the president's remarks which he made on this tragedy last hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This morning, I want to extend to the people of Haiti the deep condolences and unwavering support of the American people following yesterday's terrible earthquake. We are just now beginning to learn the extent of the devastation, but the reports and images that we've seen of collapsed hospitals, crumbled homes and men and women carrying their injured neighbors through the streets are truly heart-wrenching.
Indeed, for a country and a people who are no strangers to hardship and suffering, this tragedy seems especially cruel and incomprehensible. Our thoughts and prayers are always with the many Haitian-Americans around our country who do not yet know the fate of their families and loved ones back home. ***1130 I have directed my administration to respond with a swift, coordinated and aggressive effort to save lives. The people of Haiti will have the full support of the United States in the urgent effort to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble and to deliver the humanitarian relief, the food, water and medicine that Haitians will need in the coming days.
In that effort, our government, especially USAID and the Departments of State and Defense, are working closely together and with our partners in Haiti, the region and around the world. Right now our efforts are focused on several urgent priorities.
First, we're working quickly to account for U.S. Embassy personnel and their families in Port-au-Prince as well as the many American citizens who live and work in Haiti. Americans trying to locate family members in Haiti are encouraged to contact the State Department at 888-407-4747. I'm going to repeat that. 888-407-4747. Second, we've mobilized resources to help rescue efforts. Military overflights have assessed the damage and by early afternoon our civilian disaster assistance teams are beginning to arrive. Search and rescue teams from Florida, Virginia and California will arrive throughout today and tomorrow and more rescue and medical equipment and emergency personnel are being prepared. Because in disasters such as this the first hours and days are absolutely critical to saving lives and avoiding even greater tragedy, I have directed my teams to be as forward-leaning as possible in getting the help on the ground and coordinating with our international partners as well.
Third, given the many different resources that are needed, we are taking steps to ensure that our government acts in a unified way. My national security team is led an interagency effort overnight and to ensure that we coordinate our effort going forward, I've designated the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Dr. Raj Shaw, to be our government's unified disaster coordinator.
This rescue and recovery effort will be complex and challenging. As we move resources into Haiti, we will be working closely with partners on the ground, including the many NGOs from Haiti and across Haiti, the United Nations Stabilization Mission, which appears to have suffered its own losses, and our partners in the region and around the world.
HARRIS: Reaching out to help, the U.S. State Department activates its disaster response plan for Haiti.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Concrete and twisted metal everywhere, buildings in Haiti reduced to rubble by the powerful earthquake that struck the island nation. More than 18 hours later and still no clear estimates on the number of dead and injured, but the Red Cross estimates that 3 million people are affected by the quake. That's about one-third of Haiti's population.
And one of the big concerns right now, getting aid into Haiti. Helene Gayle, president and CEO of Care USA joining me now.
Helene, good to see you.
HELENE GAYLE, PRESIDENT & CEO, CARE USA: Hi. Thanks.
HARRIS: What are your thoughts?
GAYLE: Well, it's pretty overwhelming. It's been over 200 years since they have had any disaster like this. On the other hand, this is a country that is unfortunately used to going from crisis to crisis.
I think right now what we've got to do is make sure that we put together the kind of resources that are necessary to address this in the immediacy, because it's the first 24 to 48 hours that will make the biggest difference in the lives of people here, so. HARRIS: Any concern about being able to pull the resources together? Because there seem to be a number of questions here -- A, pulling the resources together, and then getting the resources into Haiti.
GAYLE: Well, I think, you know, I hope that people will be generous and recognize the magnitude of this tragedy. But I think the fact that there are organizations like ours that are already on the ground, we have about 130 people already on the ground. We have things that our stockpiled, food, health supplies, water, things that we can start getting out to people immediately. And so I think the fact that there are already people on the ground who can start that response is critically important.
HARRIS: Have you been able to talk to any of your people on the ground?
GAYLE: We've been able to talk to our country office director there who, of course, is devastated by this. Luckily, most of the people -- all of the people who are in our office in Port-au-Prince were able to get out of that office.
But we don't know, we haven't really identified all of our people yet to know that everybody is safe. That goes for people in their families throughout Haiti and particularly around Port-au-Prince.
HARRIS: The person that you were able to talk to that leads your office, what's the damage assessment in the immediate area of your operations?
GAYLE: Well, it's too soon to tell. All you can tell, you see houses that are collapsed, you see people sleeping in the streets, people just devastated by this. People lying in the streets -- some dead, some not. So it's too hard to really tell yet what the magnitude of this is going to be, but it's clear that it's going to be great.
HARRIS: Will the international community rally for Haiti in a meaningful way, sustained way, not a week or so and, you know, the networks are there, but long term?
GAYLE: I sure hope so. I think that's what it's going to take. If we compare it to what happened with the tsunami and people rallied. We got the resources that allowed us to build back better so that people in those communities have more stability now than they did afterwards. It's a long-term effort. We can't just keep going from crisis to crisis for Haiti. So that's why we hope that people will be generous.
We're impressed and pleased that the private sector is starting to chip in. Here in our own country, in our own city, Delta, UPS, corporate sponsors have already started to already give the kind of support that's going to be necessary. Still want individuals as well as our government to do the same and we hope that people will contributing to organizations like ours and others that are trying to do the best we can, particularly in this first 24 to 48 hours when we can make the biggest difference in people's lives.
HARRIS: You want to get more people in country and so far how difficult has it been to do that?
GAYLE: Well, we haven't been able to yet, but thanks to the support of Delta Airlines and other partners, we are going to be able to get people in country pretty soon, probably within the next 24 hours.
But again, the fact that we have people on the ground already and we've been there since 1954 means that we have, you know, a real strong foot hold there.
HARRIS: Helene Gayle, appreciate it. Thanks for your time.
GAYLE: OK, thanks.
HARRIS: Good talking to you about this.
The U.S. State Department is ready to help everyone in Haiti as best it can. We will give you a look and tell you about the response, that's next.
Look at these pictures.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Haiti's ambassador to the United States says reports coming out of the island nation are catastrophic. He has spoken with Haiti's first lady about the extent of the devastation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAYMOND ALCIDE JOSEPH, HAITIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: The bad news is that she said most of Port-au-Prince is destroyed and she's calling for some help in the form of a hospital ship off the coast of Port-au-Prince, just in the same way that the United States had had helped us in 2008 after four hurricanes hit Haiti in three weeks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: New pictures and eyewitness accounts are coming in from the earthquake zone every minute. CNN has set up a Haiti Desk to monitor it all for you and let's get there now, Rosemary Church is there.
And if you would, Rosemary, share some of this information.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony, absolutely. You know, we're here in the international desk as you said and we're filtering through all of the information that's coming through to us.
I want you to have a look at these new photos just in from the British Red Cross. Andriana (ph) is going to take us through some of these. Look at here, the injured boy next to a Red Cross worker there. And you see this man holding his son. And the national palace, if you want to just pull that up, Andriana, so people can get an idea, because that building collapsed. So, you know, that's an unfortunate ramification as a result of this incredible earthquake in Haiti.
Let's just go back now, Andriana, and check out some of those other pictures, just scroll down. Incredible, this one of this young boy. You were looking at pictures earlier, of course, from the Associated Press, so these coming in after that. And we go through these pictures and sort of see, get an idea of just how extensive the devastation is.
And, of course, you learned that the buildings there, the concrete buildings, they're not reinforced so they have just tumbled on top of these people. We heard numbers, casualties possibly as high as a thousand, may even go higher than that. But if we pull this one on the camp, Andriana, so people can get an idea, people lying there.
They have nothing at the moment. We did hear from the U.S. president, Barack Obama, the United States is sending supplies and rescue workers. We also know that china is doing that, France, Taiwan, Mexico, Venezuela, a whole list of countries, Tony. I know you were particularly interested in finding out who's actually helping. But it's difficult to actually -- at this stage it's early. It's just early hours. We're going to wait for those supplies to get there and the rescuers too. But these are the critical hours. People are digging with their hands to try to get people out from under this rubble. It is just unbelievable.
HARRIS: I'm trying to be patient with it. You know, I'm still trying to get to the bottom of the airport situation. This is an earthquake that happened yesterday afternoon. We know of a flight that was able to leave and, you know, what about the coordination to get aid flights in, because as you mentioned, these are the critical hours and we need the aid on the ground there in Haiti.
Rosemary, appreciate it. Thank you.
President Obama pledges the U.S. will be there for Haiti in its hour of need. Let's get an update on the aid efforts, our foreign affairs correspondent, Jill Dougherty, is following developments at the State Department.
And you just heard a bit of my frustration there, Jill. Maybe you can walk us through the efforts to get aid on the ground there, and we know the effort is to get it there as quickly as possible.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony, the real problem is you have people in imminent danger on the ground in Haiti. But when you have an operation like this, you have to be coordinated, you have to know where you're going. And one of the big issues at the beginning was just communication.
Think of it -- the State Department couldn't even talk to the officials in the Haitian government initially. So that's what we're dealing with. So that was why it was very important that those Coast Guard planes got over the airport, started doing reconnaissance this morning, figured out that the rumors about how that airport was actually destroyed were not true and that people could actually get in. And in fact the U.S. ambassador went to the airport himself, looked around, saw a plane coming in, assessed the situation.
So what happens next? Now that the airport is OK, now these teams, search and rescue teams, can go in. And these are the guys who have all of the knowledge, they have the teams highly specialized, really ready to go. They have canine teams. They have go in and try to get the aid to the people as much as possible.
And you know, Tony, another thing that we've been talking about is the Americans. There are 40,000 to 45,000 Americans in Haiti. It's really a very, very large number. So one of the responsibilities is to help them. That's the State Department is supposed to do that. Some have gone to the airport, we are told, and the United States will try to get them out as quickly as possible. Then others who are wounded, I should say injured, have gone to the American Embassy. And they are being given medical care. But so far, Tony, no confirmed reports from the State Department at least of any fatalities among the Americans.
HARRIS: OK, Jill. I appreciate it. Perfect timing. Let's get to the State Department briefing now.
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PHILIP J. "P.J." CROWLEY, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS: ...work in Haiti, including those who are part of our U.S. Embassy family in Port-au-Prince.
This is a whole-of-government effort, as you'll see by the speakers who will be at the -- who will give you a kind of a status report on the way forward, representatives from the Department of State, Defense and Agency for International Development. We are obviously supported by other agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, as we go forward. And as you'll hear, we're responding as rapidly and effectively as we can to the difficult situation in Haiti.
We'll begin this morning's briefing with Cheryl Mills, counselor to the secretary of state and the driving force behind Haiti policy formulation here at the State Department, followed by Raj Shah, the administrator of USAID. And we're thrilled to have General Doug Fraser, the commander of U.S. Southern Command, who will be coordinating the considerable military response to this disaster.
But we'll begin with Cheryl Mills.
CHERYL MILLS, STATE DEPARTMENT COUNSELOR: Good morning.
Let me just first start out by saying and echoing the sentiments of the president, that our thoughts and prayers are with the Haitian people and the vast international community that is present in Haiti as we are going through what is going to undoubtedly be a very challenging and difficult time. And we are looking forward to being able to provide all the support that we can bring to bear to try and ameliorate the impact of this -- of this terrible situation.
As you all know, shortly before 5:00 yesterday an earthquake struck outside of Port-au-Prince and outside of the island of Haiti, and then there were multiple aftershocks that had an impact on the island as well.
According to our initial overflights that have gone on this morning, it appears that most of the damage has been within Port-au- Prince and that the outer-lying areas have sustained less damage or very limited damage.
The situation on the ground is very fluid. We have very limited telecommunications, and certainly within the Haitian community there's limited telecommunications.
We have been fortunate, our U.S. ambassador has been able to reach President Preval, who is safe and who is grateful to the outpouring of assistance that he has been receiving from the international community, and they have had a couple of occasions to have a conversation.
As many people have already seen, there are numerous structures that have sustained substantial damage, and we also know that there have been not insignificant numbers of casualties. We do not have any estimates yet for the numbers of those, nor for the number of individuals who are -- who have been injured, but the situation is very severe.
In addition to the numerous facilities that have sustained damage, we also note that the U.N. peacekeeping force headquarters also sustained considerable damage, and so we will be lending our assistance to see how we can provide the appropriate support to be able to provide search and rescue support in that area.
I'm going to speak a little bit about our American citizens who are there and Raj will be speaking about disaster assistance, Administrator Shah, and we will then have General Fraser, who will also be speaking about our military response.
So in that vein, there are approximately 45,000 U.S. citizens who are in Haiti. The embassy, Port-au-Prince, has activated its early warning system to connect with those citizens and establish, one, how they are doing, and, two, what support they might need.
We have received a number of reports of injured U.S. citizens, so we are working through those to be able to make sure that we are getting everybody the assistance that they need.
There have been a number of calls that have come in to our consul affairs and here at the department seeking information about loved ones who are in Haiti. For those people who are seeking information, the president gave out this number -- I just want to give it one more time -- and that is 1-888-407-4747. And that's a number that you can call into if you are seeking information or seeking to make a request with respect to someone who is -- that you were trying to connect with that's in Haiti.
In terms of embassy personnel on the ground there, we have about 172 personnel who are there under chief of mission authority. As of 8:00 a.m., we had accounted for just about all of them. There were eight personnel who were wounded, four who have been seriously wounded. We have already had U.S. Coast Guard healers (ph) on the ground to be able to medevac them to get appropriate care. And so w are beginning to see that happen, as well.
We have ordered the departure of approximately 80 embassy spouses, children, non-essential personnel. Those will begin happening later today so that we can ensure that the infrastructure and resources are there (inaudible) properly concentrated on those who are in need.
The Coast Guard will have planes actually arriving, I believe, this afternoon -- and I'm sure General Fraser will be able to speak to that -- to help and assist in that evacuation process.
The embassy structure has remained intact, and so it has become a point of support and it has been providing medical support and other support for Haitians and Americans and others who have been able to reach the embassy.
We have reached out to the government of Haiti to be able to assess what their needs are and to be able to understand what their priorities are. We have launched a multiagency effort to provide disaster assistance, which is being led by Ambassador Shah through the Office of Disaster Assistance.
And so with that as a background, I'm going to turn it over to Ambassador Shah -- can speak to those efforts.
RAJIV SHAH, ADMINISTRATOR, U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Thank you. Thank you, Cheryl.
Our first comment, of course, is that our -- our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti who have, of course, suffered a tremendous tragedy with this earthquake, that started last night just before sundown.
We are working aggressively and in a highly coordinated way, across the federal government, to bring all of the assets and capacities we have to bear to quickly and effectively provide as much assistance as possible.
The goal of the relief effort in the first 72 hours will be very focused on saving lives. That is the president's top priority and is what the president has directed us to do.
We will do that by, first, putting in place significant disaster assistance relief teams. We'll have, by the end of today, 15 members of that team doing surveillance, collecting data, identifying priority sites, and guiding the efforts of the larger search-and-response units that will be following their entry on -- into the country.
We have two urban search-and-rescue units on their way. Both are units with 72 individuals, people who have significant training and significant equipment and technical capacity to conduct search-and- rescue in urban settings, to drill through and clear, as much as is possible, rubble, in order to try and identify individuals that can be saved and continue with the mission of saving lives.
We're working aggressively across the various agencies of the federal government, including FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security, to identify additional units that will be able to deploy as rapidly as possible.
And we're working hand in hand with the Department of Defense and General Fraser to make sure that we have the transport and logistics to get these assets into the country and efficiently operating as quickly as possible.
The other comment I wanted to make is that, as part of this, we are also, of course, thinking about critical needs in the area of health and food, water, transportation, and infrastructure, and -- and other advanced planning that needs to take place now so that we can -- because we know that we will have quite a lot of work to do in the days and weeks ahead.
We are committed to a significant effort, and we're committed to doing everything we can in all of those sectors. And so our team, which includes members from every agency in the federal government that has the capacity to help, is working to develop plans and put resources in place so that we can effectively respond to some of the requests that have come from the Haitian leadership and from our teams on the ground.
Finally, I'll point out that we do already have, of course, teams on the ground, including our ambassador, our USAID mission and mission director, and other brave men and women who work for the U.S. government in that capacity, and they've been providing guidance and support and data and information and are very much a part of the effort, despite having themselves gone through a very significant and challenging experience. So we want to thank them for that -- for that effort.
So we will be pushing forward with an aggressive and coordinated effort focused very much on saving lives through aggressive search and rescue urban -- in the urban environment for the next 72 hours, and that'll be the primary focus of our engagement.
I'll hand to it General Fraser, who can talk about the logistic support that we are getting and that we need to continue to get and will continue to get from our armed forces in order to make sure that we're using every capacity we have in the government to be effective.
Thank you.
GENERAL DOUGLAS FRASER (USAF) COMMANDER, U.S. SOUTHCOM: Thank you, Raj. From United States Southern Command and from the Department of Defense, our prayers and our condolences go out to the citizens of Haiti also.
In coordination with USAID and with the entire U.S. government, we have a significant effort undergoing to support this. From the time we found out about the earthquake, we started into motion.
There are still concerns about the airport and the access to the airport in Port-au-Prince. The word we are getting is that the airport is functional, but the tower and the capability to operate there are limited, and so we're pushing capability there now to be able to operate and secure that airport.
We're also pushing command-and-control capability and communications. As you all know, communications has been very difficult in Haiti, and so we're pushing that to not only support U.S. forces who are there, but because a lot of the communications for MINUSTAH was in their headquarters, that has been lost, and so we're looking to support the MINUSTAH effort as we go forward also.
We also have various ships within the region -- U.S. Coast Guard ships, as well as some Department of Defense ships that are moving in that direction. They have limited humanitarian assistance supplies on them, but they have some vertical lift capability, some helicopters with them.
In addition, we're moving the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson from Norfolk to the vicinity. It will take on a complement of helicopters as it proceeds. And we're hoping to have that in the vicinity of Haiti tomorrow afternoon.
So we continue to robustly move capability and support into the area to provide that lifesaving assistance as well as do assessments of what the follow-on needs will be.
And we're already looking beyond the immediate needs to understand as we get those assessments in to provide the capability as quickly as we can to Haiti. So a significant effort across the board on board.
So thank you very much.
HARRIS: We want to do this, we've been showing you, as we've been listening to the State Department briefing and General Fraser there giving us the best indication yet of the effort that's going on right now to get aid into Port-au-Prince and clearing up somewhat the situation at the airport, that the airport is, in fact, functional but they're still trying to get the final assessments on what its capabilities are right now. As we've been listening to the State Department briefing, you've been watching these pictures from UNTV, new video in to CNN of the overnight effort, the evening and overnight effort to rescue U.N. workers from the U.N. Mission building.
Let me stop for just a second so that you can hear this operation as it took place in the overnight hours. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you open your mouth?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But we need something to catch.
Are they alive?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three alive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three alive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I just wanted to jump in just to set up this video just a little bit. Obviously UNTV providing these pictures, new video in to CNN. These are pictures from the overnight effort to find people in the U.N. Mission building, which, as you can see, was devastated by the earthquake.
Let's listen in a bit more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (speaking foreign language)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two more people.
We need more people down here! We need more people down here!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need some more here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Head, the head. Move it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be careful. Be careful now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch it.
(speaking in foreign language)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Again, just to bring you up to speed on what you're watching here, UNTV providing these pictures of the rescue effort, late evening, overnight hours, as the peacekeepers, as you can see there, at the bottom of the screen, about 9,000 U.N. peacekeepers work in Haiti. A number of the blue-hatted soldiers involved in rescue efforts in the overnight hours.
