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Storm Bears Down on Haiti Amid Frantic Search for Quake Survivors; Florida Gov. DeSantis And School Districts Clash over Mask Mandates; Mask Fight Intensifies in Texas as State Sees COVID Surge; Journalist & Author, Jim Laurie: Afghanistan Similarities to Saigon "Striking". Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired August 16, 2021 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[13:33:07]
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: The potential for deadly flooding now threatening Haiti after a massive earthquake killed nearly 1,300 people.
A tropical depression is now bearing down on the island, likely to complicate rescue efforts and compounding the suffering of thousands left homeless now from Saturday's quake.
CNN's Matt Rivers is in Port-au-Prince.
Matt, what are you seeing?
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ana, 13,000 homes and counting, or structures, I should say, according to the government, have collapsed as a result of this earthquake.
About 1,300 people killed so far. Thousands of people injured. And unfortunately, as the hours go by, we expect the numbers to go up.
Because part of the issue that Haitian authorities have had since the beginning is getting access to some of the harder-hit areas.
A lot of these places that have been hit outside of Port-au-Prince are in areas that are kind of one road in, one road out, sort of places.
And as a result of this earthquake, you have damage in the streets, mudslides, landslides, debris in the roads. It makes it impassable for aid convoys trying to get to these places, not only to bring help there but also just to assess the damage.
That's going to get better as time goes on. But that's the reality right now.
Yesterday, we were able to take a helicopter and see one of the areas most affected by this earthquake, about 100 miles west of where we are right now in Port-au-Prince, and it's just destruction.
We saw a multi-story hotel absolutely flattened. The roof caving in on that entire building. Authorities told us they very well expect bodies to be in that rubble.
And at that same scene, Ana, we saw people going through, taking away scrap metal, air conditioners, dressers.
It go to shows you the desperation of people in that area that was already stricken with poverty before this happened.
As for search-and-rescue efforts, they continue. But you mentioned off the top, Tropical Depression Grace moving into this area.
[13:35:01]
The CNN weather team expecting it to directly impact the epicenter of where this earthquake happened.
Not only does it bring wind but, more importantly, it's bringing rain, anywhere from five to 15 inches in localized areas. That brings flash flooding threats and mudslide threats with it.
Which, Ana, essentially means that a complicated search-and-rescue effort only gets that much harder.
CABRERA: Matt Rivers, it's a tragedy, what's happening there in Haiti.
Thank you for your reporting.
For more information about how you can help those effected by the earthquake in Haiti, go to CNN.com/impact.
Back here at home, the Texas Supreme Court cracks down on mask mandates for now. But that's not stopping a Dallas school district in enforcing one today. The tense battle as COVID cases surge in that state. We go there.
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[13:40:39]
CABRERA: Once within reach, the goal of getting the pandemic under control is tragically slipping through our fingertips.
The director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Fauci's boss, says the U.S. could soon be reporting more than 2 00,000 cases a day. That's a rate not seen since vaccines were widely available.
And Florida is one state where hospitalizations are high.
CNN's Lelya Santiago is in Miami.
And the war over mask mandates between the governor and the Miami-Dade mayor just escalated. What happened?
LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ana, the governor is saying he will not allow local governments to implement any mask mandates.
That comes -- let's step back a minute -- after the Miami Beach mayor sent him a letter asking him to rethink that policy, asking him to give local governments the power to make that decision on their own.
But the governor, his office, anyway, saying they don't believe there's enough evidence that masks will work in this case. That's why they don't want any mask mandates.
I should point out, in February, the CDC did a study in which it took a look at local governments and it found that the local governments that implemented mask mandates, when they did, hospitalizations went down.
So, yes, there's evidence that masks can be critical in slowing the spread of COVID-19.
We should mention that Florida, just last week, reported more new COVID-19 cases in the past week than any other 7-day period in this pandemic.
That is why you'll see local governments taking other measures.
For example, where we are right now, Miami-Dade, the mayor, starting today, is requiring all employees to have weekly testing unless they provide some proof of vaccination.
Also today, announced, Baptist Health, a big health system in south Florida, they will be requiring that their employees be vaccinated by the end of October -- Ana?
CABRERA: Leyla Santago, thank you.
And the fight over masks in Texas classrooms escalating even further with a new legal ruling in that state.
The State Supreme Court saying Governor Greg Abbott's order blocking mask mandates can stay in place, for now, at least. But at least one major school district isn't backing down.
CNN correspondent, Rosa Flores, is in Dallas.
Rosa, how is this being received by parents?
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, all the parents I talked to this morning at this elementary school behind me were for the mask mandate. They were wearing masks. Their children were wearing masks.
What the Dallas school ISD superintendent is saying is that he had his attorneys look at the ruling by the Texas Supreme Court very closely. He says the ruling does not include his school district. That's why he's moving forward with the mask mandate.
Now, I did ask the superintendent, what about the students who don't want to wear masks in the classroom? He's here's what he said. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL HINOJOSA, SUPERINTENDENT, DALLAS INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT: We're going to be nice about it. We're going to be benevolent to a point. We're going to give them a little bit of time to comply. But we're not going to let them mix with the rest of the students.
If they don't want to comply -- we won't have a virtual option until next week so we got to do something. So we're going to ask them to leave. And if they don't leave, we'll ask them to go to a different room.
It's going to be tenuous all day long. But we'll - we've got some great people in this district and we'll find a way to handle it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLORES: Now, the superintendent there and local officials here around the state are looking at the number of hospitalizations that keep on rising here in Texas.
More than 11,500 people are hospitalized in the Lone Star State. That's accounts for about 14 percent of the individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 around the country.
And, Ana, right now the attorney general of Texas just tweeted about something that the superintendent mentioned this morning, and that is that he received a call from President Biden in support of the mask mandate.
And the attorney general saying the Democrats hate the rule of law and that he will always stand by it.
Of course, now this is in the courts and the courts will decide at the end of the day -- Ana?
CABRERA: What is happening there in the Lone Star State has eerie similarities to what we're seeing play out in Florida, the Sunshine State. You've reported in both the places and lived there recently.
[13:45:01]
Rosa, thank you for your tireless work. I appreciate it.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Afghanistan is no Saigon, but journalist, Jim Laurie, says the similarities are striking. He is one of the few reporters to witness that collapse and takeover back in 1975. He joins us just ahead.
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[13:50:18]
CABRERA: New video just in from Afghanistan as chaos unfolds there.
And, first, just a warning, this is difficult to watch and disturbing. This is at the airport in Kabul as Afghans are desperately trying to
flee the country.
This new video from a different angle appears to now show at least two objects or people falling to the ground as a U.S. military aircraft gained altitude just hours ago.
CNN has not been able to independently confirm the images.
The crews on the ground did witness several people attempting to cling to the plane as it was taking off from Kabul.
Multiple U.S. defense officials tell CNN they cannot confirm the incident, so we're working to get more info on that for you.
Meantime, Secretary of State Antony Blinken says what is happening in Afghanistan is nothing like what happened more than 40 years ago in Saigon.
It's a comparison we've been hearing about the past few days and there's a reason.
Take a look at these pictures. First, on the right, the rush to evacuate the U.S. embassy in Kabul.
On the left, an eerily similar moment in 1975 as an American helicopter airlifted last-minute evacuees from the U.S. embassy in Vietnam as Saigon fell.
And joining us is Jim Laurie, the author of the book "The Last Helicopter: Two Lives in Indochina."
Jim, you were the only American TV correspondent to cover the fall of Saigon and to remain there for the communist takeover in 1975. A lot of comparisons are being made today. Are they fair?
JIM LAURIE, AUTHOR & FORMER TV CORRESPONDENT WHO WITNESSED THE FALL OF SAIGON: Ana, of course, in one respect, the enormous differences, the whole context of the war.
But to compare the last 24 hours in Afghanistan and the last 24 hours that I witnessed between the 29th of April and the 30th of April 1975, actually, Kabul has been worse.
And I say that because I want to address, for a moment, the whole question of those who have been left behind.
Back in 1975, it was precarious. It was chaotic. It was disorganized. But the Americans were able to extract 5,500 Vietnamese within a space of 18 hours.
Overall, 26,000 people who were very much part of the American effort in Vietnam were rescued.
We see a situation today in Kabul where, at best, maybe 1,000, maybe 2,000 of those who were interpreters or supporters or involved with the Americans are getting out.
So, that is a big difference and a very, very sad similarity, if you will, between Kabul and Saigon.
CABRERA: You also covered, back in 1989, the Russian, or back then, the Soviet pullout from Afghanistan, specifically.
Was that withdrawal more successful? And in the days that follow, what do you see going down in Afghanistan now?
LAURIE: Well, the irony of the Russian involvement -- and they were there for about 10 years -- is that they got out fairly smoothly.
They went out by road, up the highway from Kabul, through an area now controlled by the Taliban, through Kunduz, to Uzbekistan.
And along the way, there were Afghan troops bidding them farewell and waving. At least that's what I saw.
Back in Kabul, they had left behind what was referred to as a puppet government under a man named Najibullah.
He managed to hold on. Despite my predictions that he would be falling within the next couple of weeks, he managed to hold on for two years.
He was, however, finally killed by the Taliban in 1996. And that is what people fear today that those left behind will be killed.
I'm not sure what your reporters on the ground are finding right now in Kabul.
But I'm hearing from some Afghan sources that, already, the Taliban are going door to door, seeking out Afghan journalists, Afghans who have served with the American military, Afghans who are dedicated to the human rights cause in Afghanistan.
And that is a very troubling development, if true.
CABRERA: We did just get our own reporting as well. Sources telling CNN that a couple of female journalists were visited by the Taliban and at least one of them expressing fear for her own safety and concern over what the future holds.
Jim Laurie, thank you so much for your time, and for providing some perspective on all of this for us. I appreciate it.
[13:55:02]
LAURIE: Thank you, Ana.
CABRERA: Thank you all for joining us. I'll see you back here tomorrow at 1:00 Eastern. In the meantime, you can follow me on Twitter, @AnaCabrera.
Our coverage continues next with Alisyn and Victor.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thanks for joining me. I'm Alisyn Camerota. Victor is on assignment today.
