Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Relief to Haiti; What Medical Community Can Expect to Address in Haiti

Aired January 13, 2010 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Right now, 2:00 Eastern Time in Haiti, the beginning of another desperate hour.

It is too early to tell how many people were killed, injured or might still be trapped after yesterday's earthquake, but the prime minister tells CNN that hundreds of thousands of people could be dead.

President Obama has promised that the U.S. will help not only Haiti, but Americans wondering if their loved ones on that island are OK.

And we're getting iReports from eyewitnesses to the chaos in Port-au-Prince. As new ones come in, we'll take them to you right away.

So, we have at least seven reporters on the story right now in Port-au-Prince, seeing first hand what's going on. In Miami, where there's a large of population of Haitian-Americans who, no doubt, wonder what is happening to their loved ones there.

Let's give you a little context now in Haiti.

It shares of island of Hispaniola with the much larger Dominican Republic. And talking square miles, Haiti is about the size of the state of Maryland. But there are about 3.5 million more people living in Haiti, one of the most densely-populated and least-developed countries in the Western Hemisphere.

It is absolutely the poorest, though. Eighty percent of the people there live below the poverty line and 54 percent of those in abject poverty. The average Haitian earns about $400 a year.

I want to take you straight to New York right now, where -- one more time? Can we get a locator on this? The Haitian general consul now speaking.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

FELIX AUGUSTIN, HAITIAN CONSUL GENERAL TO U.N.: ... the hospital of (INAUDIBLE), Doctors without Borders.

We have a dramatic situation in our hands and we also need, therefore, the help of the international community.

What do we mean by that? We need medical supplies. We need heavy equipment to help the people in Haiti. We need doctors, people in the medical field to go down to Haiti as soon as they can.

We are in touch with JetBlue. We are in touch with American Airlines. And they are ready to go as soon as soon as the logistics can be met.

We are in touch with the Haitian community, the mayor of New York, the police of New York. We are in touch with almost all of the agencies that are supposed to provide the needs for our community.

Of course, I am very heartened by what I've heard so far. Guyana, for example, the president of Guyana, just offered $1 million to the Haitian government. We have the text here, and I was just with the (INAUDIBLE). I was in a meeting with them, the consul general of Guyana spoke about that and give us the facts about it.

So we are very heartened by everything that is going on. But in the meantime, we are very concerned.

It is a question of public health. We need the help of the international community. We need for people to understand that it is not only Port-au-Prince, but it is the surrounding areas of Port-au- Prince.

We want to thank you for being here this afternoon and we are ready to answer some of your questions.

QUESTION: What have you been able to galvanize so far in terms of efforts -- doctors, medications -- and when is that first shipment going to be?

AUGUSTIN: In fact, JetBlue was ready to go this afternoon. It is because of the logistics.

The Haitian medical associations in New York, they already have about 40 medical doctors ready to go to Haiti. We have the nurse's associations. They are ready to go to Haiti. But because the thing happened only yesterday, they were not ready.

So now they are trying to pile up some of the things that we need so that when they go down to Haiti, they can be ready to help the people that need it.

QUESTION: Where are they going to be able to set up? There is so much widespread devastation. What is the plan once they get on the ground in either Santo Domingo or Haiti in order to establish some type of medical command center?

AUGUSTIN: Of course, we will have to do what we can. We cannot provide things that we don't have, but I would suggest that they take with them before they go to Haiti -- because JetBlue, for example, told us already they are going to give them tents, they are going to give them sleeping bags, and all the facilities.

But I would suggest that they bring water with them. Water is of the utmost need in Haiti today. And if they are going, they have to bring some dry food, of course. They have to bring with them -- if they want to go for a week, they should think about going with things that they will need to use for one week.

WHITFIELD: Underscoring the big needs there, Felix Augustin. He is the Haitian consul general to the U.N. He is coming out of New York there.

He says while he is heartened to see all that is going on, meaning the donations that are pouring in, he says there are big concerns. And right there he's underscoring them, water being one of them.

Guyana, he says, ,offered $1 million to help out. There are various American airliners that are offering jets. And, of course, he says they will continue, meaning Haiti continues to need assistance from the Haitian community.

We'll have much more right after this of our continuing coverage of the earthquake in Haiti.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. The needs right now in Haiti? Pretty basic -- manpower, medical help, meals, water.

Well, the World Food Program has already begun to mobilize airlifting emergency aid into Port-au-Prince.

And joining us now from New York with more on this effort, the WFP's chief spokeswoman for North America, Bettina Luescher.

All right. Good to see you, Bettina.

We just heard from the consul general for Haiti. He was talking about water is a basic need.

There is hardly any infrastructure. Where do you begin offering help there?

BETTINA LUESCHER, CHIEF SPOKESWOMAN, WORLD FOOD PROGRAM, NORTH AMERICA: Yes, the people need everything. The people need everything. The destruction is absolutely overwhelming. So we've mobilized all of our teams to really put food and other supplies quickly on the ground.

Let me give you a little bit of a background.

We are bringing in these high-energy biscuits. You have a package. Something like this would feed a person for a day. We're going to ship in half a million rations to Haiti shortly.

We are also sending planes in with non-food items: generators, fuel, hygiene kits, medical kits, anything, IT equipment. Because what is important is that the international community works together.

The U.N. is very hands-on, on the ground. The World Food Program has more than 200 people who were already working there even before this disaster. We always feed more than one million -- between one million and two million people at any time in Haiti. So we have got people on the ground, but they need help, too.

WHITFIELD: And then how do you actually distribute? That sounds like a remarkable load of resources there, but then how do you actually get them to people, especially since you mentioned U.N. peacekeepers are already on the ground. Many of them are unaccounted for because communication is so poor.

LUESCHER: Yes. And, of course, those are all of the issues that our experts and our logistics experts are tackling right now, together with all of our other U.N. partners and humanitarian partners, because it's one thing that you need to get the planes on to the ground and to land it, but you also need to have people and experts there to unload it.

We've got lots of experience with this. I personally, for example, was there during the tsunami operation, and it becomes very quickly a very efficient operation with planes hopefully being able to land quickly, unloading stuff, and then bringing it to the people.

We have, of course, also food in warehouses on the ground already, but, also, that is difficult to distribute because you see how devastated everything is. The last time when I was in Haiti a few months ago, people were still trying to recover from these hurricanes and tropical storms more than a year ago, and they were petrified every single time when it rained since they were so tormented by these past disasters.

WHITFIELD: And you can imagine what people are feeling with these constant tremors and aftershocks that continue to carry on right now, almost 24 hours after the 7.0 earthquake.

Bettina Luescher, thanks so much.

LUESCHER: Yes. If I can add one more thing. Appreciate that.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

LUESCHER: Go to our Web site: wfp.org/haiti. Make a donation. You want to do something good today? Help those people who need aid desperately.

WHITFIELD: Excellent. I know a lot of people want to help the best they can. Thanks so much. Appreciate that.

There are other ways that you can help as well. You want to go to CNN.com/impact, and there you will see a host of resources and organizations right at your fingertips to find out how in other ways you might be able to help out.

All right. Well, using CNN's extensive global resources to bring you the very latest on the deadly and destructive earthquake in Haiti, let's bring in our Michael Holmes, who is standing by, also at our Haiti desk -- Michael.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fredricka.

Yes, it's very busy around here, as you can imagine. A lot of sources involved here.

It started off last night when we were covering it with Facebook and other sources like that. We're starting to get more traditional means of information coming in to us.

I've got some video for you now from The Associated Press, actually. Let's roll that and have a look.

You can see there just some of the devastation. The reports we're getting is that it's almost totaled in parts of the capital of Port-au-Prince, and other parts of Haiti as well.

A lot of injured people. And, of course, a lot of the places that would treat these people, medical centers, hospitals and the like, they, too, have been put out of action.

Now, obviously, you see there are people just literally in the streets. And with the aftershocks, many of them don't even want to go back in the buildings that are intact to whatever degree.

Now, we've got another video, too, from one of our affiliates in the Dominican Republic. This is pretty new video now. It shows a lot of the damage in the streets.

You see that building just tilting. That one has collapsed.

Again, a lot of people just milling around. They've got know where to go. Injured people as well on the side of the street. There are bodies on the side of the street.

Obviously, no infrastructure -- the infrastructure in Haiti was poor to begin with. Now, I mean, really, they've got nothing to work with. Even the doctors like Doctors Without Borders have been saying that they need to be able to operate on people, crush injuries, head injuries, thinks like that.

We've got a Google Earth I've got to show you. Just come back here.

This is an indicator here of Haiti. And you see here the high levels, the high points are the population high points.

And you can see there, this is the epicenter. This is the highest point of population. So you've got hundreds of thousands of people who had to deal with what they were calling the violent shaking, the worst of this earthquake.

I want to bring you over here, Fredericka. And let's have a look here.

We've got a video here on YouTube here. This is Red Cross pictures posted on YouTube. And we just got this in. We'll have to show it to you here, and you can just see more photographs there of the injured. An old gentleman there, an elderly lady there.

Heartbreaking pictures. And I've been looking a lot at Facebook and Twitter, and you're getting an awful lot of people posting photographs of relatives, loved ones, wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, children, saying, if you see this person, post here so we know they're OK -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: It's so heartbreaking. So many folks who just have nowhere to turn, still unclear how long it will take before they finally hear about their loved ones there in Haiti.

All right. Michael Holmes, appreciate that. Thank you.

More of our extensive coverage of the earthquake in Haiti. Incredible pictures from our iReporters straight ahead.

And the U.S. State Department has set up a hotline for people trying to get information about their family members in Haiti. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to actually make contact with, but it's a great resource to get some answers.

That number is 1-888-407-4747. You might hear a recording when you do call because so many people are dialing at the same time. So the State Department says that everyone should simply keep trying until you get through.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: About the need in Haiti, our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is just now arriving in Port-au- Prince.

Sanjay, give us an idea of what you're seeing and what you expect the first need will be to be addressed by other members of the medical community that will soon be on the ground.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the first part certainly is some good news, and that is that we were able to land at an airport. As you may have heard, for some time there has been some conflicting reports on that and real questions as to whether or not this airport was even up and running.

I'm looking at the control tower now, which is standing, but all the glass has been busted out of that tower, steel beams on top. So they're using some other measures to get airplanes landing.

That's very important, as you might imagine, because I can see a big relief plane as well landing just off in the distance, starting to bring in some supplies, which in terms of pain medications, medical supplies, food, water, all of that on big pallets, starting to be lifted off that plane.

We've been talking to a lot of contacts on the ground over here already, including folks from some of the medical relief organizations. You know, I can tell you, having covered stories like this before, they're very much in the initial stages of all of this.

They, themselves, trying to get organized, trying to account for all their people, trying to establish their own security. They're describing situations where their vehicles are being mobbed by people who are desperate for supplies.

There are also lots of medical necessities in a very -- in the streets, without hospitals or even some sort of medical facility at this time. So, some immediate needs to be identified medically, but there does seem to be at least a few relief organizations on the ground here.

WHITFIELD: Well, Sanjay, give me an idea of some of these organizations that are on the ground. They plan to put in place some sort of temporary, almost triage units. Describe for me what those would look like and if those things would help address some of the greatest needs right now as people are being pulled from the rubble with other people's bare hands.

GUPTA: No question. And this is very reminiscent of what we've seen in war zone settings, where the real goal, more than anything else, is to try and get some facilities to the patients, to the potential patients, as opposed to trying to evacuate patients to hospitals.

Hospitals, if they have any capability at all, just aren't equipped to be able to handle the volume of patients. So they look like tents. They're actual triage tents.

They can take care of people's immediate needs and even perform some minor to moderate surgery within those tents as well. So, to try and describe it -- I'll hopefully be able to show it to you later -- you see the tents popping up in various places around the city, doctors starting to bring patients, and nurses going out and establishing who needs what and trying to get care as quickly as possible. That's what it's starting to look like. And again, it is very reminiscent of when I was in Afghanistan two months ago and Iraq a short time before that.

WHITFIELD: And I know a lots of folks who are victims are relieved to see these medical units come in, but at the same time, you just mentioned for a moment that some people are mobbing these first responders. They see the trucks. They see generators and they see packaging, and they think there's something in there for me.

And describe for me what you mean by them mobbing these first responders and how that is presenting yet a new layer of difficulty for these first responders.

GUPTA: Yes. This is coming straight from Doctors without Borders, which, again, has had a presence here in Haiti and specifically Port-au-Prince for some time.

It's exactly what you said. There are lots of supplies that they are trying to bring to areas that are needing it the most. However, right now, as far as we can tell, demand is outstripping the supply.

So people are trying to get their hands on everything, from gasoline, to water, specific medical supplies. There are patients who cannot get operations that they need. Pain medication, for example, is something that is in huge demand as well. So that's really what's happening here. And what the Doctors without Borders are describing is trying to establish some sort of secure perimeter around these tents so they can get these patients taken care of safely and they can be safe themselves.

WHITFIELD: And a lot of those clinics and facilities that Doctors without Borders had in place prior to this earthquake, many of those structures are devastated, inoperable.

Do the Doctors without Borders, staffers, volunteers, do they feel frustrated about not being able to tend to those in need right now while they wait for their support to arrive?

GUPTA: Remarkably, it is so early on in this whole process, that they are truly just trying to get sort of an accounting of their own staff members right now. This is a...

WHITFIELD: And how do they do that?

GUPTA: Well, it's tough because, you know, as we are here, I'm talking to you on a satellite phone. It took us a while to get that signal up. There's hardly any cell service whatsoever. We're certainly not getting any. So, simply communicating, you know, one group of doctors, nurses to another group, is extremely difficult.

The roads, many of them difficult to travel because of what has happened as a result of the earthquake. So, you know, it's tough.

I mean, a lot of it is sort of being transmitted word of mouth right now. Sometimes e-mail comes up, but that -- this is so early on in the process, that simply accounting for their own nearly 800 people is obviously one of the first steps. And then going from there, trying to establish what those people are going to do, where they're going to be deployed, how they're going to set up these tents, and where the need is greatest is sort of the next step.

As we were flying into Port-au-Prince, again, the airport -- I'm looking at it right now -- it looks pretty good. There's some glass busted out of some of the buildings, some of the steel beams. Some of the hillsides that we crossed over looked OK as well, so it seems to be a fairly local, if you will, localized area of extreme damage.

So I think you're going to see a lot of these medical relief organizations start to descend together in one area. And that's good news in terms of mobilizing resources, but the devastation in one area is tremendous.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And, of course, as these units then try to traverse, you know, some other areas of Port-au-Prince to get to the more difficult to reach folks, I guess, the clock ticking. It's going to be very difficult to try to carry out their best efforts to reach people, to try to find survivors, because many people are trapped beneath the rubble and, of course, the roads will be a difficult thing in which to try to get through.

GUPTA: From a medical perspective, they will see just about every injury you might imagine -- crush injuries. Also, a lot of homes have home gasoline systems for heating and for cooking. We've heard that those exploded, some of them, causing burn injuries. You have penetrating injuries as a results of the rubble actually penetrating people's bodies.

So, there are all sort of different injuries occurring here. And trying to figure out what they are and, you know, again, just almost war zone triage seems to be what's happening.

WHITFIELD: OK.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, chief medical correspondent for CNN, there on the ground in Port-au-Prince, giving us his firsthand view of the efforts under way and what may be to come.

Thanks so much, Sanjay.

Some of the other top stories we're following for you.

The heads of Wall Street's biggest banks admitting that they made mistakes in the financial collapse, but they didn't say that they -- they say, rather, that they didn't realize how bad those mistakes were at the time. Their comments at a congressional hearing today, and on the hot seat, chief executives of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America.

And warning. Google in China. This, after the Internet search engine threatened to pull out of the country.

Google says it's a response to censorship rules and cyberattacks. These company says hackers based in China tried to gain access to the e-mail accounts of human rights activists. The White House is weighing in, saying it backs the right to free Internet.

And at the Vatican, a lesson in forgiveness. Pope Benedict XVI met today with the woman who attacked him during Christmas Eve mass.

You'll remember that all caught on tape right there. And he actually forgave her. The Vatican says during the private meeting, the woman who suffers from psychological problems told the pope that she was sorry.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Haiti's humanitarian crisis on the minds of many in New York City and in our nation's capital. Both areas filled with Haitian-Americans. From our D.C. studios, Arielle Jean Batiste, who used to work for USAID. Her daughter just got out of Haiti last week and Arielle herself was just in Haiti last month closing on her home there. And in New York City, Ricot Dupuy. He is the station manager for Radio Soleil, a Haitian flavored broadcast out of Brooklyn.

Good to see both of you all. I know both of you have been trying frantically to reach loved ones there in Haiti. It's been very difficult. You've got your own personal stories about what it's been like. So, Rico, let me begin with you, because here you are on the air, you're hearing from you -- you're hearing from listeners and callers who are sobbing about trying to reach out to their family members and you're dealing with the same kind of struggle. How do you keep it together during all this?

RICOT DUPUY, STATION MANAGER, RADIO SOLEIL: It is -- it is difficult and it's very frustrating at times because the people are asking for information that you have difficulty providing because basically they're asking you to put them in touch with loved ones, people they're trying to locate. And, you know, it has to be difficult . . .

WHITFIELD: And, of course, that has to be pretty frustrating -- right, very frustrating for you because you really can't do that.

DUPUY: Absolutely. We -- it's very difficult and we -- some people have the technological means of doing that. So basically all we can do, we give them an opportunity where they identify the loved ones, they're trying to identify to locate in Haiti. They give their names, a telephone number, hoping that somebody who hear the message would somehow connect with their loved one in Haiti and that their loved one would somehow connect back to them because they're really desperate. They need to make connection.

WHITFIELD: So, Arielle, this is an incredible network that has been under way. Thank goodness for social networking for you, too. You were able to find out about friends and loved ones. You're still wanting to hear about how your uncles are doing and some other friends. Give me an idea of how this morning you were able to get an update on loved ones by way of social networking. How did it work for you?

ARIELLE JEAN BATISTE, WORKED IN HAITI FOR YEARS AS REP. FOR USAID: This morning around 4:15, 5:00, I got up and got online and I saw two people in Haiti online and spoke to them. They couldn't tell me what the situation was because it was dark when it happened yesterday, but they told me that their families were fine.

However, this morning, with my daughter, we were able, on FaceBook, to circulate the information. We found out about, unfortunately, about certain deaths. My friend -- my son lost one of his friends. My -- another friend lost her mother. And two of my friends are unable to locate their mothers.

So just before I came to this interview, I got online and I saw someone, but unfortunately I haven't had time to talk to him. And I will get back and try to find out more information and see if I can connect some of these people with their parents.

WHITFIELD: And, you know, Ricot, this is terribly sad because while people are still trying to hear from loved ones, at the same time they are, in some cases, hearing the worst, as Arielle was just mentioning. Not a mention of people being injured, but instead it's one extreme to the other. It's either you're alive or you're dead. Is that what you're hearing from your listeners? And is that what you're experiencing as well?

DUPUY: Well, one situation that I see, it's a tendency to panic, to sometimes even exaggerate. Let me give you a clear example. A number of people are calling their loved ones in Haiti. The phone would ring, but there would be nobody at the end. And automatically they assume the worst, that the people have been killed or severely damaged when, in fact, people are being advised not to stay in homes, but to stay, rather, in the open because a home is a very dangerous place to be in Haiti right now because of aftershocks and other. In my own case, it took me some 15 hours to find out, to determine that my -- yes.

WHITFIELD: Go ahead. I can hear you. It took you 15 hours.

DUPUY: Yes. It took some 15 hours to find out that my aunts, my cousins, whom I love very, very much, were OK because the phone rang, nobody picked up. I was tempted also to assume the worst and finally I find out that they're OK.

WHITFIELD: Well, this is very agonizing, we understand, for you, Ricot Dupuy, as well as Arielle Jean Batiste. And we thank you so much for your time and we wish you all the best as you continue to reach out to your loved ones and your friends and family there. And, of course, we've got our prayers out for you and all of them.

BATISTE: Thank you. Thank you, Fredricka. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much for your time. Appreciate that.

BATISTE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: So the earthquake in Haiti is certainly the worst to hit that country in two centuries. We'll take a look now at the fault lines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Back to our continuing coverage of the earthquake, devastating earthquake in Haiti. CNN iReporters have been sending us incredible pictures of the devastation there and Josh Levs is joining us now with the latest on some of those images that are just simply pouring in.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, I'm going to show you some new images and I also want everyone to understand that this is part of the story today. You know, this is, obviously, is a huge crisis in Haiti and never before has there been this kind of information sharing. That is impacting everything, including rescue efforts, including how people are getting information on the ground because, miraculously, maybe, even right now inside Haiti, people are able to get to I-Report, they're able to get to FaceBook, to YouTube. We are getting all sorts of images, and that is a large part of the way the world is learning.

Enough of me yapping. Let's get it on the screen. I want you to see some of the latest pictures we've been getting right here. This is -from an I-Reporter who's also posted photos to his FaceBook page, Corel Hadra (ph). And we've been talking to him here.

I just want to sit on this one for a second because we've had a lot of images go past your eyes. When you stop and really look at one, it gives you a moment to kind of feel the weight of that impact. This was a building. This was -- it was a -- you can't even tell what a lot of the rest of this mess was. But you can sense, as you look at these photos, the way things just completely collapse.

Let's take a look over here at a couple more of his photos too. This was a street. Now, obviously, you can't get anywhere. The entire street is coated with rubble. This has been up. So you're seeing a flattened building here. Another one over here that he sent in. A road that's blocked by rubble. You know, it's all over Haiti. It's not just in one area, as we've been telling you.

I want to go now to some graphics that we have for you. This is from our I-Reporter, Jonathan Lusma, who has sent us these pictures from an area in western Haiti. This is an area that's called Lakai (ph). And he took pictures of buildings around him. I mean take a look at that. Just destruction. We can scroll through these. So much destruction in that area. And what's interesting is that we have been seeing pictures from so many different parts of this island, which is a reminder of how huge it is.

All right, I know we need to tie up. But before we go, I want to show you one more picture of the screen behind me, because UNICEF has put a photo on to its website. Are we able to see that right there? Are we able to get way in. It's a photo of a little girl and UNICEF says this is a girl who was inside a building in Port-au-Prince, now needs medical help. They've put this on the front page of their website. They're saying, people need help.

And I will mention, as we look at that photo, because so many people want to help, Fred. Can't say it enough. We have it right here, cnn.com/impact. Impacts Your World hooks you up to all sorts of organizations if you want to reach out and help throughout the day.

Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and there are so many different ways to help and you can't help enough, especially at a time like this for the people there in Haiti.

Thanks so much, Josh. Appreciate that.

LEVS: You got it. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: So simply staying alive in Haiti is an enormous undertaking, even when there is a natural disaster. We'll hear from a former star athlete who has been trying to make a difference well before the earthquake got underway there and we'll find out what's in his plans now in the aftermath.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: He's a former Haitian soccer star, a 2007 CNN hero and he knows the Haitian territory hit by the earthquake very well. Boby Duval runs the Athletics of Haiti program in Port-au-Prince and it helps promising young athletes get away from the slums. He joins us now from Washington.

And good to see you, Boby.

Well, what are your concerns right now?

ROBERT "BOBY" DUVAL, ATHLETICS OF HAITI: Well, my concern is that I've been trying to reach my general manager of the program, (INAUDIBLE), and I just have not been able to reach her because we have, you know, in activity about 1,300 kids from CBS (ph) Soleil and five other -- four other places in the countryside. And I've just not been able to reach them.

I know that my family -- my immediate family is OK. We have not suffered too much extensive damage, although partially some houses have been -- of my, you know, my kids' mother, they've been destroyed. However, what's really bothering me is the fact that, you know, there's no communication and it's very hard. You don't get -- the information you get is kind of indirect. So that's what I'm really worried about now is -- the situation with my program.

WHITFIELD: And you help something like 1,300 or 1,500 children a day, introducing them to sports, giving them something to do, giving them real hope and an outlet. And many of these children were living in situations where it would have been difficult, even on a good day, to contacts them. But now with this earthquake, communication virtually cut off. What are the different avenues that you try or that you hope you can count on to try to find out how people are doing and even the coach, the director of the program, that you mentioned?

DUVAL: Well, I'm just trying to go back down right away. I was -- I came here for a conference of coaches in Philadelphia. I was invited by the people in Denmark (INAUDIBLE). Since we brought a team over in the summer and since we won the championship, they wanted us to be introduced to the soccer world in the states. But I think I'm going to miss all of that because I need to go back.

I feel compelled to go back because it's important for me to be around and to help in any way I can because, you know, the situation, as you have shown it, is kind of very serious. It's very, very serious. There is -- there is -- they are talking about hundreds of thousands of people who have been -- who might be dead and also Port- au-Prince area is completely destroyed and now we -- I'm seeing that the destruction goes way beyond Port-au-Prince. I think Jakmel (ph) has been hurt. The south of Haiti has been hurt. And even the north also.

WHITFIELD: When do you see yourself being able to get on a plane to head to Haiti?

DUVAL: Well, the things that I've heard that -- the -- I was trying to go to the Dominican Republic, but apparently the roads to the Dominican Republic, to the border, is kind of closed and the border is kind of closed also. WHITFIELD: Yes.

DUVAL: But I hear that if we organize some kind of charter through Miami, we can go directly. That a lot of people who have planes that would be willing to help out and go with charters, they are kind of reluctant to go.

WHITFIELD: Boby Duval, thanks so much. And we wish you the best in your continued efforts. The founder of L'Athietique d'Haiti, all the best as you try to reach out to the director and all the children who benefits from your program on a day to day basis. All the best to you, Boby.

DUVAL: Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: And, of course, many of you want to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Here's how you can do that. Direct your browser on our website, cnn.com/impact. There you'll find the list of aid agencies operating in Haiti, as well as links to their contact information.

Front (ph) of mind, though, for the president, Haiti's earthquake disaster and how the United States as a whole can help. An update from Washington straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: President Barack Obama spoke out quickly about the death and destruction in quake-ravaged Haiti, promising immediate rescue and relief to the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

(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 a 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)

WHITFIELD: For more on how Washington is expected to help Haiti, let's go now to Washington and our foreign affairs correspondent, Jill Dougherty.

Jill.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, you know, what they've been looking at those pictures coming out of Haiti. And when you look at the destruction and the chaos, you have to ask yourself, how do you even begin? Well, the people who are deciding on that -- how they do begin with the help for the people who really need it are here at the State Department on the seventh floor. It's a task force and includes, you just heard it from the president, State Department, Defense Department, USAID, and they are the ones that put together the plans and continue to coordinate.

Now, on the ground, what happens is team go in to assess what is necessary. And then these search and rescue teams, and we've been talking about some of them, are going to be going in. In fact, they're supposed to be coming in this afternoon, some of them, two of them, and another one tomorrow morning. And at a briefing not too long ago over here at the State Department with Rajiv Shah, he's the new head of USAID, he explained what those teams do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR RAJIV SHAH, USAID ADMINISTRATOR: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGHERTY: And also on the question of Americans, you know, Fred, there are 45,000 Americans in Haiti. It's a very, very large number. And so what they're trying to do, the embassy, is to establish communication with them. So far, as of the last briefing that we had, there are no confirmed reports of any deaths. However there have been some injured. Some of them have been taken care of at the U.S. embassy. They're getting some medical care. There also have been some Americans just going to the airport and waiting and we are expecting that they will be taken out of Haiti as quickly as possible.

And then one final note. Secretary Clinton, you know, has been on this Asia trip. She's in Hawaii. She's been communicating. And we understand from the State Department that she is considering curtailing her trip in Asia so she can have some type of flexibility in the midst of all of this.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jill Dougherty, thanks so much.

Of course, there is a phone number that the U.S. State Department has set up for people who have questions, want to know something about reaching their loved ones there. It's 1-888-407-4747.

We'll have much more of our continuing coverage of the earthquake in Haiti after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look now at our top stories.

A Georgia judge has ordered the suspect in a shooting rampage at an Atlanta-area truck rental company held without bond. Jesse James Warren is accused of shooting two men to death yesterday. Three others are in critical condition. Police say Warren worked for the Penske renal company until July of last year.

And it's going to take a bit longer before a North Carolina port reopens in Morehead City. The port was closed after dangerous explosives were accidentally spilled yesterday and was supposed to be back in business today, but crews say it's taking longer to clean up the spilled PETN, which leaked out of containers that were hit by a forklift.

And President Barack Obama and some top Democrats are trying to fine-tune the final health care overhaul bill. The president is meeting today with leaders from both the House and Senate at the White House. They're trying to narrow the differences between the two competing plans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Haiti not just a nation, but a cause to people all over the globe. Recording artist Wyclef Jean was born in Haiti. Here he's visiting the country with Matt Damon back in 2008. Well, he has now launched a fund for the quake victims through Twitter. And on "Anderson Cooper 360," he said he knew about the earthquake as soon as it hit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WYCLEF JEAN, HAITIAN-BORN RECORDING ARTIST: I was on the phone with a friend in Haiti and she says, I think an earthquake is coming. And the phone goes off.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN'S "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Oh, really?

JEAN: After that, I texted and it took 45 minutes to get a text back. She said that she was outside with her kids and that the buildings have just started collapsing.

There's 4 million Haitians that are outside of Haiti. So, I think this is the type for the Diaspora, the Haitians that are outside of Haiti to step up, and to call their councilman, call the Congress, and say, you know what, we need a state of emergency for our country.

This is the most important thing, because as we are sitting here right now, there are people in the dark that are dead. And we ain't going to know what happens until the morning. So, my urgency right now is really a cry of freedom, saying, we really need a state of emergency, like right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: So, here's how you can help the victims of Haiti's earthquake. Log on to CNN.com/impact.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. More of the NEWSROOM up next with Rick Sanchez.