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Quake Devastates Haitian Capital; Interview With Haitian Prime Minister; Obama Administration Response to Disaster
Aired January 13, 2010 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: 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.
Take a look at this and a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait, wait, wait.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One second.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down by the wall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't worry about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, OK, OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: You're getting a pretty graphic illustration of the suffering going on in Haiti right now, a country that is under severe stress under the best of circumstances, rocked by this earthquake, 7.0 magnitude.
These are pictures, once again, from UNTV, new video in to CNN of the late evening, overnight effort to find as many people, rescue as many people as possible, from the U.N. mission building, which, as you can see for yourself here -- look at this -- virtually destroyed.
And we are anticipating more and more of this video to come in to the CNN NEWSROOM. As soon as we can get it and turn it around, we will show it to you.
Countless people, as you can imagine, still missing in the wake of Haiti's powerful earthquake. Thousands feared dead.
And here's what we know right now. The Red Cross estimates three million people may be affected by yesterday's magnitude 7.0. Residents are searching for survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings across the capital.
The chief of the U.N. mission there is unaccounted for. His headquarters, the pictures we've been showing you there in Port-au- Prince, one of the many buildings that collapsed. The U.S. and other countries are preparing to send desperately needed aid and search teams.
President Obama, a short time ago, pledging full U.S. support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: And, of course, CNN's global resources right now trained on Haiti, specifically Port-au-Prince right now, the epicenter of this quake.
Our Gary Tuchman is on the ground now at the -- OK, it's Susan Candiotti. We know that Gary Tuchman is there as well, but we have Susan Candiotti with us on the phone.
And Susan, if you would, take your time and describe what you're seeing.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, our journey here began last night when we flew to Santo Domingo, and then we were able to helicopter in, once the sun came up, to Port-au- Prince, to the airport here. Just before we reached Port-au-Prince, with the city opening up before us, we began to see some of the devastation that we have been hearing about and seeing before we left to come down here.
I can't tell you how many buildings we saw that were just a pile of dust and rocks. We saw floors pancaked on top of each other.
Occasionally, you would see people huddled together. We saw one group of people on a soccer field seeming as though they didn't have anywhere else to go, and they probably didn't.
Now, from there we flew over more and more examples...
HARRIS: Hey, Susan...
CANDIOTTI: Yes, Tony?
HARRIS: Susan, I apologize. Your colleague and mine, Gary Tuchman, has some new information. I know he's with you there in Port-au-Prince.
And Gary, good to talk to you. What do you have for us?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, we're at the Port-au- Prince airport right now, and as you might imagine, it's fairly chaotic at the airport in the capital city. We just finished interviewing the prime minister of Haiti, Jean-Max Bellerive, and we asked him what he thought the death toll was. And he said there's no way to actually really estimate it right now, but he said he believes it was in the hundreds of thousands.
Now, we were taken aback, obviously. That's horrible if it that were to be true. And we said, "Do you mean thousands, or hundreds?" He said, "Hundred of thousands."
I said, "Well, more than 100,000?" That's his estimate.
Obviously, we don't know if that's going to be true at this point. But that is what the prime minister of Haiti is telling us.
I asked him about the capital of Port-au-Prince. I said, "How much of the city is destroyed or damaged?" He said all of it is either damaged or destroyed.
And then I asked him a very important question when it comes to moral order. I said, "Is the government still in control of Haiti?" And he goes, "I hope so. I'm the prime minister. I'm here."
And Tony, right now with us is Jean-Max Bellerive, the prime minister of Haiti. He's just walked up to me.
I'm going to hand our satellite phone cell phone to him, Tony Harris.
HARRIS: All right.
TUCHMAN: So here's the prime minister.
HARRIS: Mr. Prime Minister, you are detailing widespread devastation that begins to look in the order of the Southeast Asian tsunami.
Once again, how many people do you fear may have succumbed to their injuries as a result of this earthquake?
JEAN-MAX BELLERIVE, HAITIAN PRIME MINISTER (via telephone): I want to explain it's very difficult and not enough time to have a fair assessment of the number of victims. But, what I make a (INAUDIBLE) of how many construction, how many building were collapsed with supposedly with the inhabitants inside, I believe that we are well over 100,000.
HARRIS: Well over 100,000, did I hear you correctly?
BELLERIVE: I hope that is not true, because I hope the people had the time to get out. But we have so much people in the streets right now. We don't know exactly where they were living.
But when we -- so many, so many buildings, so many neighborhoods totally destroyed. And some neighborhoods we don't even see people. So I don't know where those people are. So, I'm (INAUDIBLE).
HARRIS: Mr. Prime minister, I just have to ask you, that is such a large number.
BELLERIVE: Yes.
HARRIS: To what extent, because I know that -- to what extent have you been able to travel, yourself, through the streets of your city to help you come to that kind of an assessment as to the possible death toll? How much of this is your own assessment, based on your knowledge of the city, and how much of this is based on reporting you're receiving from others?
BELLERIVE: 5:00 p.m. last night I was trying to go to every place they told me there was a large number of people, victims. So in some places, you know, we have very large slums in Haiti, there are really dense slums, where you can find sometimes seven to eight people in the same houses. And when I entered I didn't see any houses. They were all destroyed and we don't see people leaving those places. So I come from the different places that I visit (INAUDIBLE) other people that are willing to help the government to make (INAUDIBLE) during the night. I hope that it won't be the case. But (INAUDIBLE) I believe that we are in that range.
HARRIS: How concerned are you with your ability now to maintain order and control in your city?
BELLERIVE: The good news is that until now, the city's pretty calm for what is happening in Haiti. The population is taking it very -- with maturity. People are trying to take care of themselves in some quiet places. People are trying to help each other on the streets. And so it's given us the time to reorganize.
What happened in Haiti right now, the same people that are supposed to help the victims are also victims, policeman, (INAUDIBLE) and lose their homes and lose their cars, they lose some family. So it's very difficult to organize the help with...
(AUDIO GAP)
HARRIS: I believe we may have just...
BELLERIVE: ... at this time we are starting to get into that.
HARRIS: OK.
And, Mr. Prime Minister, one more question. Can you clarify the situation at the airport? Are aid flights able to get in? Because, obviously, as you know, better than I do, sitting here in Atlanta, that time is of the essence and you've got to get those aid flights on the ground there in Port-au-Prince.
BELLERIVE: Yes.
HARRIS: Mr. Prime Minister?
BELLERIVE: Yes, yes. I am hearing you now.
HARRIS: OK. Just one question about the airport situation right now. Is the airport there in Port-au-Prince functioning? Because, as you know, you've got to get the aid flights on the ground there.
BELLERIVE: Excuse me. I didn't hear you very -- so well.
HARRIS: All right. One more time. Mr. Prime Minister...
BELLERIVE: Yes?
HARRIS: Can you clear up the situation surrounding the airport? Is the airport open and functioning? Are you able to get flights on the ground with the aid that your city and country really needs right now?
BELLERIVE: Right now, (INAUDIBLE) is out of the airport as we have planes landing. I know that there is some problems --
(AUDIO GAP)
HARRIS: OK. I just think we've lost the connection.
I hope that was helpful. And as you could hear yourself, the phone call was breaking up, in and out, as you would certainly understand, given the situation on the ground in Haiti.
Now, we've been speaking with Jean-Max Bellerive, the prime minister of Haiti.
CNN's Anderson Cooper is also on the ground there in Haiti, and I got his account of the situation just last hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: All right. CNN's Anderson Cooper leading our team coverage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The global resources of CNN absolutely trained now on Port-au-Prince. The devastation there just unimaginable.
Many buildings have collapsed, including the presidential palace, which was one of the sturdier structures in the country.
Reporter Christine Webb from affiliate News 13 in central Florida was covering a mission trip there when the quake struck. Here's her account.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE WEBB, REPORTER, NEWS 13: It was the most riveting and scariest thing I have ever been through in my life. I was actually on the compound in our dining room area when this all took place.
Things were shaking. The roof was moving. The whole structure was moving.
We ran outside. We kind of, like, darted on to the ground. And there, the earth actually split. It was unreal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: New pictures and eyewitness accounts are coming in from the earthquake zone, literally every minute here. CNN has set up a Haiti desk to monitor it all for you.
Let's get there now. Rosemary Church is there.
And Rosemary, once again, what are you seeing? ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Tony. I do want to show you this.
These pictures coming in from a CNN affiliate, a Dominican Republic affiliate. This is Noticias SIN Antena Latina, if we bring those up.
Now, this is the capital, Port-au-Prince. You get an idea of just this spread of and the extent of this devastation.
There are, of course, buildings, people being taken away. We had to remove some of these shots. There were some extremely graphic shots, as you would imagine. So we have gone through this just to double-check. We don't want to shock anyone, but we do want people to get an idea on just how bad this earthquake has been.
And the root problem here is that these buildings do not meet any standards, any building code across the globe. And, of course, in one of the poorest nations of the world. So, that gives you an idea there.
Now, earlier, we showed you the pictures from United Nations TV, if we can bring those up. There you go. And that gives you an idea, too, of the rescue effort under way, keeping in mind that 9,000 peacekeepers or so still unaccounted for.
And also the head of the U.N. mission in Port-au-Prince unaccounted for, as well as his deputy. So, you know, this has struck the U.N., as well as other organizations. People have been affected right across the globe. We've seen on social media sites that people are trying to get an idea on what has happened to their relatives.
I want to bring up Google Earth, too, because I think it's very important to show you. If you just come over this way, I want to show you the Google Earth map, because it shows you the density, population density.
Obviously, that really tall column this, the blue one, shows you the highest population density in Haiti. And that gives you an idea of just how devastating this is. Because if you've got the concentration of the population here, and the epicenter of the earthquake, that is why Haiti's prime minister is talking in terms of hundreds of thousands of people having died.
It's very difficult to get these rescue operations under way. Of course, the world is responding, but it's going to take a little while for them to actually arrive there and get under way, and these hours, these last few hours are critical.
HARRIS: You hear that number from the prime minister, and, boy, I was trying, attempting to question him pretty closely on that. The phone was cutting in and out.
But that is a devastating number that he is sharing with us, as many as 100,000 or more dead from this quake. But when you think about the Red Cross estimating that three million people there could be at risk, affected by this, maybe it's not such a shocking number, given the magnitude of this earthquake.
Rosemary, appreciate it. Thank you.
CHURCH: You're welcome.
HARRIS: We are hearing from you about the events in Haiti, and we will share some of your thoughts right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: You, our iReporters, are sending in dramatic images showing the devastation in Haiti. Many are worried about their families.
And Josh is joining us now.
And Josh, you know what? I jotted down the number of Americans who are looking to reach out and get some information. I don't have it. I know we have it somewhere, but I know you can help us with this as well.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I will. I'm also going to show you a couple places online where you can do that.
We're getting these dramatic stories. What I want to do right now is bring in an example. We have a member of the U.S. military on the phone with us who has been worried about her family in Haiti.
Fabiola, are you there?
FABIOLA SURENA, IREPORTER: Yes, I'm here.
LEVS: Great. All right.
Fabiola Surena, she's with the U.S. military. She's in Maryland, her family is in Haiti.
Fabiola, I want to go to these pictures you sent us to CNN iReport, and I want you to tell us what we're seeing in these pictures, and also talk to us about how your family is.
SURENA: OK.
LEVS: Talk to us. What are we seeing here? What are these pictures?
SURENA: I can't really see the pictures.
LEVS: OK. That's all right. I'll tell you what we have.
We have these images of these homes that appear to be devastated. You can see things have fallen apart. We're looking inside right now.
As I understand, we have pictures of your family's house, your parents' house, also your uncle's house. Right?
SURENA: Yes. This is my uncle's house that we're looking at right now. This is their living room.
LEVS: Wow. That was their living room. Are we still inside that house?
Wow. Look at this. And it just keeps going.
You can see, in some cases, there's a hole that's been kind of bored inside the house now. Lots of things falling apart. And as we go through these, we'll see, I think, some from outside, too.
So, talk to me about your family as we look at these. How is your family down there?
SURENA: My family so far is doing good. Everybody that we've been able to get in contact with is doing just fine. They're devastated. They've turned the house into a hospital right now, a shelter, for whoever in the neighborhood needs help, but...
LEVS: Really? So in that damaged home, they're bringing wounded people to help them?
SURENA: Well, this is my uncle's house. At my house they actually have it set up, because this is one of the only houses that's still standing.
LEVS: Wow.
I understand you have a 9-year-old sister, too, who, as you know, has been traumatized by all of this. Talk to us about that.
SURENA: Yes, she's very traumatized, and she's ready to fly back. And between myself and my brother, we're trying to figure out a way of flying out there and getting her and bringing her back, along with my grandmother.
LEVS: You want to fly her out.
Let's go back through your photos again. Let's go through this quickly again. I want everyone to see some of what you've been sending, because you've been telling us these homes are severely damaged, you have things falling apart.
You were among the people who were able to get in touch with your family, so you know -- and most of them are OK. Are there still others you're worried about?
SURENA: Yes, there's a whole lot of other people in the family that we are worried about because we haven't heard from them at all. I have an uncle that we've been looking for since yesterday afternoon, and we have yet to get in contact with him.
LEVS: Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness.
I know that there's a lot of people like you who are looking to reach their families right now. And what I'm going to do now is I'm going to show you on the screen behind me some ways that people can reach their family.
First of all, Fabiola, thank you so much for joining us.
SURENA: No problem.
LEVS: Thank you. We're going to stay in touch with you.
Now, Tony, I want to go over to this board here, because what I have for you are some systems that are set up.
First of all, we're getting tons of pictures from the scene. But take a look at this right here.
When I show you these pages, "Looking for loved ones in Haiti," this is something that iReport.com has set up, because we are still having people sending iReports, as you saw, from Haiti. So, people are sending in their photos now of missing loved ones, and they're hoping that someone in Haiti might write back and say, ah-ha, I saw that person, I recognize that person. It might be a relative, it might be a friend, it might be a fellow missionary in some cases. People sending this in.
In addition, the same thing happening on Facebook. This page went up this morning. More than 20,000 members already on this page on Facebook called Earthquake Haiti.
People are sending in all these pictures of missing relatives, missing loved ones, hoping that someone will help them find these missing loved ones. And obviously, as we know, there's a lot yet to be found out about what's going on.
And Tony, I'll just tell you one more thing here.
HARRIS: Sure.
LEVS: We keep updating with all the latest photos all day long, just really showing the power of this devastation, the anguish of what people are going through.
We hope that other people like Fabiola there are able to find out that their family in General is doing OK. But we know a lot of people don't have that. So check out these pages. iReport.com doing what they can to help you out.
HARRIS: OK, Josh. Appreciate it. Thank you.
LEVS: Thank you.
HARRIS: Want to get you quickly now to a couple of the other top stories we're following. First, let's start in Haiti.
Haiti's prime minister tells CNN that hundreds of thousands of people may have died in the earthquake. Last night's magnitude 7.0 quake pancaked buildings in Port-au-Prince, trapping untold numbers and knocking down power lines. U.S. search and rescue teams are expected to arrive in Haiti later this afternoon. The House Intelligence Committee is holding a closed-door terrorist briefing. It is taking a look at what could have been done to stop the attempted terrorism attack on Christmas Day. The suspected bomber has pleaded not guilty in the attack on a Northwest flight to Detroit.
Top executives from four of the biggest banks that got federal bailout money are testifying in Washington today about their role in the financial crisis. Goldman Sachs' CEO said the banks had assumed too much exposure to risk at the height of the crisis, and he said he wished he could go back and change things.
We'll get another check of your top stories in 20 minutes.
The U.S. will be there for Haiti in its hour of need. That pledge today from President Obama. The administration promises an aggressive, coordinated response to the disaster.
Let's get an update on U.S. ad efforts.
Foreign Affairs Correspondent Jill Dougherty is following developments at the State Department for us.
And Jill, we were watching a State Department briefing a short time ago, where I think we were able to get a better handle on the U.S. response that is being coordinated to respond to this earthquake.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony. You know there were three officials -- Cheryl Mills (ph), who's in the State Department, a counselor. We also had Rajiv Shah, the very new head of USAID, by the way. He was just sworn in last week. And now he takes office in the midst of a major crisis in Haiti. And then also General Doug Fraser, who, of course, is from the Pentagon, in charge of SOUTHCOM.
So, going to the USAID administrator, Rajiv Shah, he said that there is a primary focus. Their mission is to save lives.
Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. RAJIV SHAH, USAID ADMINISTRATOR: 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 it is what the president has directed us to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGHERTY: OK. So, how do they do that?
Well, number one, they send in DART teams, and we've been talking about those. They are the teams that evaluate what is necessary. They really have to define what the needs are on the ground.
Then these search and rescue teams come in. There are actually three of them, and they are going to be going in. These are the people with canine teams, equipment, specialized equipment and specialized knowledge to help people on the ground as quickly as possible. Also, Rajiv Shah was talking about massive amounts of water, food and other basic supplies that are going to have to be brought in.
Coming from Cheryl Mills (ph), from the State Department, there are actually 45,000 Americans in Haiti, a very, very large number. One of the big tasks has been to try to get in touch with them in a situation where communications are very, very bad.
They have reached out. So far, no confirmed reports of anyone being killed. There have been some people who have been injured. Some of them went to the U.S. Embassy, and we're also told that a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter did evacuate four very seriously injured people from the U.S. Embassy. They apparently were staff.
And then, finally, from General Fraser, a little bit, Tony. Remember we were talking about how that airport is doing. And he said it is functional, and the tower is there, but the tower apparently is not -- has limited functionality. So, that's one of the problems. And, of course, the airport only has one runway.
HARRIS: Yes.
DOUGHERTY: So, right now, they have to figure out exactly what they can bring in. But they'll do it as quickly as possible.
HARRIS: All right, Jill. That's comprehensive. Thank you. Appreciate it.
Jill Dougherty at the State Department for us.
The medical challenges in a tragic event such as this, as you can imagine, are enormous. We're going to check in with Elizabeth Cohen to put this in some kind of perspective, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: You know, it really is a race against time right now for medical teams responding to the victims of Haiti's earthquake.
CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here.
We say that a lot, a race against time. And we keep -- and maybe you can help me understand this a little better, this idea of the first 24, 48, and then 72 hours.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: All right. Here's a sobering number for you.
Ninety percent of the people -- when you look at people who die in a situation like this, 90 percent of the people die in the first three or four days. All right? So we're almost -- you know, we're almost 24 hours into this. So...
HARRIS: Which is part of my frustration. We're trying to get some clarity on the airport situation, because, above all else, you've got to get the aid workers. You've got to get the medical personnel. You've got to get the help there.
OK. What do we know about this?
COHEN: Right. And you'll notice the help is not there in big numbers yet.
HARRIS: In big numbers.
COHEN: I mean, it's just a terrible situation.
HARRIS: And the prime minister is talking to us about as many as 100,000 or more deaths. Can you imagine how many are injured, in need of help right now?
COHEN: Right, as we speak.
HARRIS: As we speak.
COHEN: As we speak.
HARRIS: What can you tell us about the medical situation there, as best you know it, provisions, hospitals? What do we know?
COHEN: Well, when we talk to people who have been in situations like this before, they say that obviously the first thing that you're going to look for is people who have been crushed by concrete, by buildings, and trying to get to those people. It is not too late, but it will soon be too late in the next couple of days.
Now, the other thing that they worry about is infectious diseases. Maybe not a concern right at this moment, but that that could soon happen. Because in a earthquake like this, what happens is that your sanitation system is devastated, so sewage doesn't go where it's supposed to be, water isn't cleaned the way it's supposed to be. And so, in the aftermath you can have diseases like typhoid, dysentery, cholera, dengue fever and malaria.
So, when we talk to relief workers, they said that is, you know, one of the things that they will try to do when they go in there, is in the immediate way, help people who have been crushed and then try to set up some clean water systems so that those diseases don't take a foothold.
HARRIS: Yes. Delicate question here. We're getting video -- we know that there are a number of people who have been killed by this quake. And we're getting pictures of dead bodies.
COHEN: Right. HARRIS: And piles of dead bodies now on the streets of Port-au- Prince. Is there a health risk, a health threat to having a sizable number of dead bodies?
COHEN: Right. And we asked several public health experts this, because I think people have the idea that dead bodies in and of themselves are a public health risk. And what these experts have told us is that the bodies in and of themselves do not spread disease. Now, if someone touches a dead body and that dead body has an infectious -- that person had an infectious disease before they died, yes, that's a problem for the person who touched that body. But that bodies lying around in and of themselves are not a threat.
Now, they want to try to bury those bodies as soon as they can.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
COHEN: But the just lying there is not a threat, we're told.
HARRIS: OK. All right. Great information, as always, Elizabeth. Appreciate it. Thank you.
COHEN: Thanks.
HARRIS: Still to come, south Florida has a large population of Haitian immigrants. We will get the latest on how they are responding to this tragedy in their homeland.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Want to get you to Josh Levs now.
Josh, look, when you get anything, OK, out of Haiti, pictures, sound, whatever you have, when you get it, just flag me, OK?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes.
HARRIS: And -- because I know you have new pictures for us.
LEVS: That's what we've got. We've got some new pictures. And as they come in, we're vetting them and we're showing them to you right away.
Let's go straight to this. This is on YouTube and it's coming to us from the official channel of the American Red Cross. There's not sound you're going to here, but I want you to see some of the images going across. This -- oh, goodness, Tony.
HARRIS: Yes.
LEVS: These are some of the pictures that they're showing in a fund-raising effort that they're putting out right now to try to -- to try to raise money that they need to help all these victims in Haiti. And, obviously, you know, it becomes very, very difficult to look at these images. They've popped up on YouTube. And the official channel is called amredcross. As we look at it, you can see what people are struggling with. You can see why so much help is need.
And I'm going to show you something else now, too. We also have been following the FaceBook page from a man, Carle Padre (ph), and he has put up some new photos as well from Haiti. He's someone who's been in touch with CNN. We've been talking to him about his photos. You can see all this devastation here. Let's check this out, too, a couple more. Buildings just I mean, we've seen in the past times that buildings get reduced to rubble. This is just devastation 101 right here.
Look at this. I mean, you don't often see this many buildings. Obviously, these are some of the toughest shots we see. Someone carried on a stretcher. I don't know the specifics. It is part of what we're all seeing today, though. I want you to see it.
And there's one more. That's an image of houses toppling, cars toppling, possessions in pieces everywhere, and you are seeing little bits of images of people underneath them, when other people who are walking, trying to get those people out.
And just to see the kind of images that he's been adding in just, I guess, over the last hour, just more and more and more and more popping up.
HARRIS: Look, and . . .
LEVS: They just -- they don't stop, Tony, because millions of people...
HARRIS: Exactly. So this is -- this is a country still in many ways recovering from what, one, two -- four tropical storm in 2008.
LEVS: Right.
HARRIS: Factor in a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Kind of enough said, right?
LEVS: Factor in poverty. Factor in disease. And then add in, you know, this massive quake that -- with those buildings, strong enough to create this kind of devastation. It's -- it's, you know, historic what we're looking at now. It's certainly, you know, massive.
HARRIS: OK.
LEVS: And we will keep an eye on all these images as they come through.
HARRIS: Appreciate it, Josh. (INAUDIBLE).
LEVS: (INAUDIBLE).
HARRIS: Haitians in Florida are frantically trying to reach relatives back home and, at the same time, they're mobilizing help for quake victims. CNN's John Zarrella joining me now from Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood. And, John, share the stories of Haitian immigrants and their concern. They must be devastated by what they're hearing and seeing.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony, that goes without saying. You know, there are 600,000 Haitian-Americans in the state of Florida, Miami being the largest Haitian-American community in the nation. And every one of them has a relative or friend, a loved one, down in the island nation.
And they gathered here in Little Haiti, Miami's Little Haiti this morning and they're putting together a coalition, putting together a task force, doctors, lawyers, members of trades groups, even funeral home directors trying to figure out what they can do. And the frustration, of course, is not knowing exactly where to start.
I've got joining me Frantzy Derose, the executive director of the Haitian-American Alliance Youth Foundation.
And that's the real frustration, right, where do you begin? And communications, trying to get to your loved ones?
FRANTZY DEROSE, HAITIAN-AMERICAN ALLIANCE YOUTH FOUNDATION: There's a big issue with communications. People are coming in periodically by the hour, they're wondering what's going on with Haiti, what's going on with my loved ones, is everybody OK. And there's no communication. We really don't have any information to give them because right now there's no communications. A complete cutoff from the community here and the community in Haiti.
ZARRELLA: A lot of social networking, though, going on, right, using FaceBook and Twitter. We're hearing a lot of it -- some information, at least, getting out that way.
DEROSE: People are getting on Twitter. They're getting on Facebook. They're e-mailing. But even with that, there's no response. People have been calling. People have been trying to communicate and there's no communication.
ZARRELLA: And, you know, every one of the people in there, as I mentioned, have relatives in Haiti. You have relatives in Haiti.
DEROSE: Yes. I have a brother right now who's serving with the United Nations. We're been trying to get in contact with him. And, unfortunately, we haven't been able to get in touch with him. But we're hoping that he's OK. I'm having a sense of optimism that he's going to be all right. I have aunts. I have uncles. Half my family is in Haiti right now. And I haven't been able to communicate with anybody.
ZARRELLA: So, terribly frustrating from that standpoint. Obviously the worry, the concern.
DEROSE: The worry, the concern, the frustration. And I have other people -- with my service, I have other people to tend with. They're coming in periodically asking about their family and I'm worried about my own. ZARRELLA: Frantzy, thanks so much for joining us.
So, Tony, you can get the sense down here it's just total frustration, at the same time trying to figure out what they can do to help as a community.
Tony.
HARRIS: And that is a that is a bustling, vibrant community there in Miami.
John Zarrella for us. John, appreciate it. Thank you.
Want to get you quickly now to the Pentagon briefing that is going on right now. General Douglas Fraser is speaking. You heard him earlier at the State Department briefing.
GEN. DOUGLAS FRASER, U.S. SOUTHCOM: Group and then a small, contingent supporting the U.N. mission there. So we're focused on getting command and control and communications there so that we can really get a better understanding of what's going on.
MINUSTAH has their headquarters partially collapsed. Lost a lot of their communication. And so we're looking to robust that communication also.
We're also sending in assessment teams in conjunction with USAID, supporting their efforts, as well as putting in some of our own to support their efforts. We're moving various ships that we had in the region. They're small ships, Coast Guard cutters, destroyers, in that direction to provide whatever immediate assistance that we can on the ground.
We also have a U.N. Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, moving in that direction. It was at sea off of Norfolk. And so it's going to take a couple of days for it to get there. We need to also just resupply it and give it the provisions it needs to support the effort as we look at Haiti. And then we're looking across the international agencies to figure out how we support their efforts, as well as our efforts.
We also are looking at a large-deck amphibious ship with an embarked Marine expeditionary unit on it that will be a couple of days behind the USS Vinson and that gives us a broad range of capability to move supplies around, to have lift capability, to help support the effort there also. So, the bottom line to it is, we don't have a clear assessment right now of what the situation on the ground is, what the needs within Port-au-Prince are, how extensive the situation is.
We also, finally, have a team that's headed into the airport. From my understanding, because my deputy commander just happened to be in Haiti when this situation happened on a previously scheduled visit, he has been to the airport. He says the runway is functional, but the tower doesn't have communications capability. The passenger terminal has structural damage to it, so we don't know what the status of it is.
So, we have a group going in to make sure we can gain and secure the airfield and operate from it, because that's one of those locations we think we're going to have a lot of the immediate effort from an international basis going into. And then we're out conducting all the other assessments that you would consider appropriate as we go in and work this effort.
We're also coordinating on the ground with MINUSTAH, with the folks who are there. The commander for MINUSTAH happened to be in Miami when this situation happened. So he's, right now, traveling back through and should be arriving in Port-au-Prince any time now. So that will help us coordinate our efforts there also because again, obviously, the U.N., United Nations, suffered a significant loss there with the collapse, at least partial collapse, of their headquarters.
So that's -- those are the initial efforts that we have ongoing. And as we get the assessments of what's coming next, then we'll adjust as required. Secretary of defense, the president have all stipulated that this is a significant effort, and we're corralling all the resources within the Department of Defense to support this effort.
QUESTION: General, how concerned are you that the security situation there might be deteriorating and U.S. troops might be needed to provide some sort of peacekeeping force in light of the looting and we heard a prison might have collapsed as we were coming in here? And, also, are you considering Guantanamo Bay as a possible place to house refugees or jail inmates from a prison that may have collapsed?
FRASER: Right now, again, the assessment is very fluid there. From General Keane (ph), who is on the ground there, he says the situation is calm within Port-au-Prince. And so that's what we're expecting.
I think it's also important to understand that the United Nations mission was there primarily on a security role. They have forces throughout the country. They have done a significant job in sustaining and maintaining stability and security within the country. That I don't think has changed to a significant amount. I don't know the answer to it directly. So, we will work with MINUSTAH and get assessments and figure out what the security situation is and then decide what to do from there.
So, I'm still trying to understand what the situation is on the ground, but I'm really going to rely on the support of MINUSTAH, because they're familiar with the situation that they've been dealing with for quite a while.
QUESTION: And is Guantanamo Bay a possibility? Is it a resource that's available to you if you wanted it?
FRASER: It's a resource that's available if we need to take advantage of it, for various reasons. So we're -- we're looking across the region to just understand what the possibilities are there.
Sir. QUESTION: General, you talked about a large deck amphibious ship . . .
FRASER: Right.
QUESTION: ... being possible. Can we assume that that would be a Marine expeditionary unit out of North Carolina?
FRASER: Yes. Well, it will be out (ph) of the East Coast. So, yes, probably out of North Carolina.
QUESTION: And also probably out of North Carolina?
FRASER: I don't know the specifics of that right now. We're still working the details.
QUESTION: So the hospital ship Comfort, do we expect . . .
HARRIS: All right. General Douglas Fraser conducting the Pentagon briefing. As you heard, he described what is shaping up to be a significant, robust, large-scale rescue and humanitarian mission to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, right now. The pictures -- Jenny, new video? My goodness. New video out of Haiti. People displaced, obviously, out of their homes.
In many cases, hundreds -- hundreds -- literally hundreds of buildings gone, collapsed. Rubble everywhere. Government buildings either fully collapsed or partially collapsed. Presidential palace, at least partially collapsed. The U.N. mission building, at least partially collapsed.
And folks, in many cases, as you see here, sleeping on the streets overnight, which is what we see oftentimes in the aftermath of an earthquake. Folks just move to the streets because no building is really safe.
Tens of thousands of Americans have ties to Haiti, as you know. The State Department has set up a number for Americans trying to get information about family members. Here it is. It's 1-888-407-4747. But the State Department says you might get a recording because so many people are trying to call. So, keep trying.
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's get you a look at our top stories now, including some new video in to CNN. Crews are rushing to help survivors trapped under the rubble from yesterday's devastating quake in Haiti.
Jen, roll in those new pictures whenever you feel. They're up, OK, great. New pictures in to CNN now. We'll take a look at this. People just out of their homes. In many cases, devastated. And you're never quite sure whether you can trust any building that is still standing. So, this is what you see in the aftermath of earthquakes, is just folks congregating on the streets. The prime minister of Haiti says hundreds of thousands may have died. The International Red Cross estimates as many as 3 million people may be affected in some way by the disaster.
Ah, boy, new pictures in to CNN.
Let's get to a couple of other top stories that we're keeping an eye on for you today.
Executives from four of the country's top banks are under fire on Capitol Hill. They're testifying before a panel probing the financial crisis. Goldman Sachs' CEO agreed with the panel that the banks had assumed too much exposure to risk at the height of the crisis, and he said he wished he could go back and change things.
In Morehead, North Carolina, crews are still cleaning up after an explosive spill. We brought you this story as breaking news yesterday right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. We now know a forklift operator accidentally punctured holes in several containers of PETN. Now that is the substance officials say was used in the attempted Christmas Day plane bombing. The port was expected to reopen this morning, but that has since been delayed.
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: As we assess the impact of this earthquake on Haiti's people, we can't overlook the country's impoverished state. Eighty percent of Haiti's 9 million residents live under the poverty line. More than half live in abject poverty. Haiti has no national building code, so many of the buildings are unsafe to begin with. And the mountainous countryside has been heavily deforested. People have been cutting down trees for fuel and clearing land for agriculture for years. That has caused severe erosion, leaving Haiti prone to terrible mud slides.
CNN's Ralitsa Vassileva takes a look at the country's turbulent history.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RALITSA VASSILEVA, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Founded by freed slaves in 1804, Haiti is the world's oldest black republic. But it's the poorest country in the western hemisphere, with almost 80 percent of the population of 9 million people living in poverty. More than half get by on less than a dollar a day.
The country is still rebuilding from the last series of natural disasters. Four different tropical storms struck the island nation in 2008, leaving the country's fragile infrastructure near total collapse.
Haiti's history is one of political instability and violence. After decades of dictatorship, Jean-Bertrand Aristide became the country's first freely elected leader in 1990, but he was ousted by a military coup in 1991, then reinstated with U.S. support, only to be forced out of the country and into exile in 2004.
The country returned to constitutional rule in 2006 with the election of President Rene Preval. A force of some 8,000 U.N. peacekeepers remains in Port-au-Prince, but Haiti has been relatively calm.
Ralitsa Vassileva, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Frank Thorpe, an American working in Haiti, was 100 miles outside Port-au-Prince when the quake hit. He drove through the night to get home. When he got there, the only sign of his wife, Jill, was her hand poking through the broken concrete. Jill Thorpe's father talked about his daughter's rescue with CNN's "American Morning."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN'S "AMERICAN MORNING": Many Americans with loved ones in Haiti are watching television virtually helpless this morning. Among them, Clay Cook. His daughter Jillian lives in Haiti and was trapped in the rubble for hours.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN'S "AMERICAN MORNING": He joins us now on the phone from his home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
Thanks so much for being with us this morning, sir.
CLAY COOK, DAUGHTER RESCUED IN HAITI: Oh, it's nice to join you. Thanks for -- thanks for giving me the chance to update people who are concerned about all this.
CHETRY: Right. Well, listen, you have a little bit of optimism to your voice this morning. And we understand it's because you've found out that your daughter was rescued from the rubble after being there. What happened to her and how is she doing?
COOK: She's doing fine now. She was in her residence, which is also her place of work, which, from what I've heard, pretty much totally collapsed when the quake hit last night. And lay buried under the rubble until just before 4:00 a.m. this morning when three of the staff workers at her house and her husband managed to free her and get her loose from -- from the concrete.
ROBERTS: Clay, hi, it's John Roberts. I know that you were on the phone . . .
COOK: Hi, John.
ROBERTS: Hey, how are you this morning?
COOK: Good. ROBERTS: I know that you were on the phone with Frank Thorpe, her husband, just a little while ago. Can you describe from her conversation with him what that rescue was actually like?
COOK: Well, it was -- it was heroic. I mean, I think it's the only word for it. Jill couldn't really do anything for herself, except she did have her cell phone, so she was able to talk to people and tell them where within the house she and this other gentleman, Chuck Dietz (ph), were located. So they didn't have to look through the whole pile of rubble.
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, her husband, Frank, was about an eight-hour drive away and drove through the night and got to the scene pretty close to the end and helped them do the final uncovering. And he literally lifted her out of the hole when they finally got her free.
ROBERTS: Wow. Just amazing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: And CNN NEWSROOM continues right after this, with Fredricka Whitfield.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The earth didn't show Haiti any mercy. It's up to the global community to do that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need more people down here. We need more people down here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: We're pushing forward on the rush to save Haiti in its desperate hour. New pictures and stories are pouring in to CNN.
