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CNN Live Saturday
Tsunami Survivors Facing Health Risks
Aired January 01, 2005 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: LIVE SATURDAY: I'm Carol Lin and welcome to a special hour of coverage of the tsunami on CNN LIVE SATURDAY. We're going to be talking about getting aid to the people who need it the most. The first U.S. aid flights head to towns that are no longer on the map. The survivors and their frantic efforts to reach the food.
Also CNN's Sanjay Gupta is in the tsunami region. His story tonight on the health concerns that could be the next chapter in this disaster.
First I want to tell you what else is happening right now in the news. U.S. aid is arriving in parts of south Asia devastated by the tsunamis. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Anan will visit the disaster area next week. A U.S. delegation heads to the region tomorrow. And in this country, President Bush has ordered U.S. flags to fly at half staff for a week of mourning for the victims. We are going to have reports from south Asia in two minutes.
In the meantime, more violence in Iraq. The government, at least a government official and his brother were killed today in Baquba. Insurgents have carried out similar attacks recently. U.S. and Iraqi officials say they are meant to derail this month's elections.
And the death toll in that night club fire in Argentina has risen to 186. The club's owner is in custody pending an investigation and police are looking for his three business partners. Authorities say some of the club's emergency exits were tied shut.
We begin this New Year with just some glimmers of hope, even amid all the devastation, the grim reality of the aftermath of this major tsunami. As the first global relief shipments begin to arrive across the region, the death toll from that earthquake and tsunamis have climbed to more than 140,000.
And adding to all of that, heavy rains are complicating efforts to get help to those tsunami victims in eastern Sri Lanka. Flash floods, you're looking at some of the devastation there, wiped out several refugee camps and flooded roads, making it almost impossible to deliver emergency supplies. And worldwide donations to tsunami victims are totaling about $2 billion. Japan's prime minister today said his country would boost its pledge from $30 million to $500 million, making Japan the single largest contributor to relief efforts.
Now U.S. aid has started to arrive in the disaster zone nearly a week after the tsunami swamped coastlines across that region. CNN's senior Asian correspondent Mike Chinoy has an exclusive on board the first U.S. military helicopter to land in hard-hit Banda Aceh Province of Indonesia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the first day of the year, we joined the U.S. Navy for a flight to a town that no longer exists. At Banda Aceh airport, sailors from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln loaded an SH-60 helicopter with containers of milk and nutritional supplements. We climbed aboard and Commander Frank Michael, Lieutenant Beau Beman (ph) and Chief Petty Officer Gerry Schwartz eased the chopper into the sky.
It was the first U.S. military flight bringing relief to the areas worst hit by the disaster. The mission was to find the town of Kudatsunam (ph) if there was any of it left and deliver food to the survivors if there were any.
Kudatsunam, population just under 10,000, was 110 kilometers, 70 miles south down the coast. Within minutes, we were flying over a wasteland. These had been towns and villages. The tsunami left them looking like they'd been hit by a nuclear bomb and the sea on this day seemed so calm. Eventually, a few intact structures came into view, including several mosques, evidently build more sturdily and able to withstand the waves.
We neared Kudatsunam and then suddenly we saw them, a small number of survivors. One emerged from the rubble and frantically raced towards us. But his hopes for help were dashed. There was no safe place near him for Commander Michael to land.
It took 10 minutes of circling to find a location, 10 minutes to begin to absorb the unimaginable catastrophe that had befallen the town. We touched down in a cloud of dust. Gerry Schwartz put the first box of milk out and a crowd swarmed towards the chopper. They were people, but they acted like a hungry wild pack.
Fearing they might swamp the chopper, Gerry Schwartz pleaded with the crowd to move back.
We are the first people that these survivors have seen since the disaster. Their desperation is palpable. They've had nothing to eat, almost nothing to drink. Their entire town is in ruins. These people though are at least alive. We've been trying for an hour from Banda Aceh along the coast and until now, we didn't see a single living person.
Aceh has drowned this man cried. There's nothing left. We're finished. One man grabbed our microphone. Thank you, thank you he repeated. As soon as the last box was gone, Commander Michael lifted off. But a second SH-60 soon arrived, carrying a U.S. Navy medical team.
On the way back, the crew seemed lost in thought. The aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln is steaming just off Banda Aceh. It's the nerve center for the U.S. military's relief operation. We landed to take on more fuel. There are 6,500 sailors on this ship, the senior officer told me. They're dying to come ashore and help. Then we left the carrier heading back for more supplies to Banda Aceh airport now full of American, Australian and Indonesian relief planes.
CPO GERRY SCHWARTZ, U.S. NAVY: Mike it was absolutely overwhelming. I've got 20 years of naval aviation. I've picked everyone up from downed aviators to stranded mariners. Never before had I experienced anything as overwhelming. Fearful yet really exhilarating to see that we're actually helping those in need and they are clearly in need, dire need.
CMDR. FRANK MICHAEL, U.S. NAVY: We're here and we've got a lot of helicopters and we're going to keep doing what we're doing.
CHINOY: Then it was back to Kudatsunam day one of a mission of mercy that will have to last a very long time. Mike Chinoy, CNN, Aceh, Indonesia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Well, after Indonesia, the second highest death toll in the tsunami disaster is in the island nation of Sri Lanka. More than 45,000 people there were killed and at least 600,000 survivors cannot go home because of the damage. CNN's Satinder Bindra is at the site of a completely devastated hotel in Beruwala, which is in southwestern Sri Lanka. Satinder.
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, a massive naval relief operation is now underway here in southern Sri Lanka. At the moment, the Indians are at the forefront of this operation and they've launched their largest naval relief operation outside their waters, but soon the United States will get involved too and we understand an advance party of about 200 U.S. Marines will arrive here very shortly.
But in the meantime, the Indians have deployed 11 ships in these tsunami-ravaged waters. Seven of these ships are around in the waters of Sri Lanka and three of these ships are right here in the southern region where I am. Two of the ships arrived just yesterday Carol. One of them is a floating hospital. The other ship is carrying supplies and it's also carrying personnel that can help Sri Lanka rebuild its economy.
So far the Indians Carol, have delivered six tons of food, aid and medical supplies and the Indians say can deliver some 20 tons more. Most of the supplies are being delivered by helicopters. The Indians have also announced they'll be given the Sri Lankans $25 million in aid and Indian officials say this underscores the warm ties that exist between these south Asian neighbors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIRUPAMA RAO, INDIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER: There is a bond that ties ordinary Sri Lankans and ordinary Indians. That is most heartening to witness, especially in times such as these. People in India have reached out to people in Sri Lanka.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BINDRA: The biggest challenge now Carol for the Indians is to open up the harbor of Galle which is a southern town that was one of the worst affected areas. At the moment the harbor is blocked with all kinds of debris and several ships have sunk in that harbor. Indian naval divers are deployed and they are hopeful that they can open up a channel in the next two to three days.
LIN: So Satinder, it sounds like a lot of help is on the way, so what do you think is the greatest concern, the most immediate need right now?
BINDRA: The most immediate need right now Carol is for safe drinking water. Many people over the past four to five days have been complaining they don't have water. A lot of the water supplies here have been contaminated by the sea and even the Indian Navy officials told me yesterday, they're very very concerned about the possibility of an epidemic. So they're watching the situation very carefully. Their medical teams are out.
Several large international medical teams are here. The Russians are here. The Israelis are here. The French are here and as I just said, everyone is waiting and watching for the Americans to arrive. We understand the American party could consist of about 1,000 to 1,500 Marines. They'll be supported by a large ship, several hovercraft and we understand some 20 U.S. Blackhawk helicopters could also be involved in this ongoing relief mission.
LIN: All right. Thanks very much Satinder. In fact we've got much more about that on this special live report on CNN. We're going to be talking about the criticism that the president has had about the amount of donations, the delay in responding by the president to this disaster so stay tuned for the CAPITAL GANG which is going to weigh in straight ahead.
And at the bottom of the hour, Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the daunting task of showing how that the needy are being cared for on the ground. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: All right. We're taking a lot of time out of this day to update you on the tsunami disaster. And as a result of that, we're going to only air part of the CAPITAL GANG today. Tsunami headlines are dominating that program as well. From criticism about donations to President Bush's delay in responding to the disaster. Here's just a sample.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK SHIELDS, CNN ANCHOR, THE CAPITAL GANG: I'm Mark Shields with Kate O'Beirne, Robert Novak and Margaret Carlson. Our guest is P.J. O'Rourke of the "Atlantic Monthly." He's also the author of "Peace Kills: America's Fun New Imperialism." Thanks for coming in PJ.
PJ O'ROURKE, ATLANTIC MONTHLY: Thank you for having me here. SHIELDS: As the death toll mounted in the tsunami disaster, a United Nations official overseeing humanitarian aid had a complaint.
JAN EGELUND, UN RELIEF COORDINATOR: It is beyond me why we are - why are we so stingy really when we are - and even Christmastime should remind many western countries at least how rich we have become.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States is not stingy. We are the greatest contributor to international relief efforts in the world.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I felt like the person who made that statement was very misguided and ill-informed.
SHIELDS: The U.N. official later backed down.
EGELUND: No country was ever singled out by me. There is no country that is stingy. There are many generous countries now contributing to the tsunami victims.
SHIELDS: Meanwhile, after criticism that the president did not immediately speak out about the suffering, he did go public on Wednesday.
BUSH: We're committed to helping the effected countries in the difficult weeks and months that lie ahead.
SHIELDS: Kate O'Beirne, was the Bush administration too slow in responding to this tragedy?
KATE O'BEIRNE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mark, this incredible tragedy with an incomprehensible number of lost lives, is not about George Bush or America this time. So I think this whole controversy is silly. And the U.N. official of course is wrong as Colin Powell pointed out. I do sympathize with him though. If you run humanitarian aid for the U.N., there's so much human suffering in the world. It must seem that there's never enough to address it. But boy is he wrong about our system. He's said we ought to be raising taxes to help more.
He doesn't appreciate it's our relatively low taxes and free economy that permits us to be the number one donor in the world bar none, which means we do more than anybody else in the world to alleviate suffering. Our military of course plays a huge role in that too. Everybody benefits from the kind of stability we bring. But look, Americans give $34 billion privately to foreign aid, 10 times our public budget and far more than the U.N. gives and then our private foundations and Catholic relief services and private charities give far more than any U.N. office so he was wrong but it's understandable that in the face of this incredible suffering he feels he wants to do more. We all do.
SHIELDS: Margaret Carlson, is it possible that we don't grasp the full impact of this? I mean this was an earthquake that was 200 times more powerful than the Northridge earthquake in 1994 that paralyzed southern California. MARGARET CARLSON, TIME MAGAZINE: It is and as you're reading it and you see that this wall of water pinned people to tree branches and smashed them into - at a velocity that they died, you get a sense of it. But there aren't pictures that can convey it.
I disagree with Kate in that it was grudging and defensive of Bush in the press conference to extol how much America does. Percentage wise, we do not do all we could do. Foreign aid is one quarter of 1 percent. That's what the United States does and White House officials were quoted in the paper saying, well, Bush is the way - he didn't want to be Clinton feeling your pain. Well, let us just go on and deal with this at a higher level than dissing the Clinton administration, which by the way is no loner in charge.
SHIELD: Bob Novak. Your take on this.
BOB NOVAK, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: With this catastrophe, this disaster, for petty little people to count how many days it took George W. Bush to get out in public is shameful. I'm ashamed Margaret.
CARLSON: I didn't count the days.
NOVAK: I'm ashamed Margaret of anybody who plays that game. There is a certain kind of people and I hope you're not one of them, that anything that happens in the world, they find someway to bash George W. Bush and people are sick of it. Now this little Norwegian bureaucrat at the U.N., this is all part of a scheme to transfer the world's wealth from the well-run countries to the badly run countries. It's been going on for years and it's sickening and annoying and let me tell you this, there is no more generous people in the world than Americans and you should admit it. The American Red Cross has received so far in individual donations from Americans $18 million.
O'ROURKE: Besides the money that the United States is able to provide, we're sending our fleet there. I mean we are able to provide infrastructure and organization, which in many cases would be more important than the actual dollar amount of aid to be given.
SHIELDS: I just add Margaret's point, Norway and this little bureaucrat whom you denigrate, give rate, a per capita rate seven times what the United States does give. If you're talking about what they do collectively as a people, what they do collectively as a people, what they do formally through their government and their government agencies and that's -- and I think that is a statement of what the collective value is and I think that is not unimportant.
NOVAK: You're just ignoring what she said.
SHIELDS: No, I'm not ignoring, I'm not ignoring at all what she said. I'm simply pointing out as a country, as a country
(CROSSTALK)
SHIELDS: It's our lead. It's our lead.
O'BEIRNE: As a country we give far more. Look, Americans have always taken a suspicious view of official foreign aid (ph) and with good reason. There's a lot of waste, a lot of inefficiencies. We give as a country and citizens together, billions more than any other countries per capita, far more than any other countries. We give our own money, exactly, not his money or your money, our own willingly, voluntarily.
SHIELDS: There certainly is a virtue, is there (ph) certainly a virtue, there are certain things that we cannot do individually, but I'll give Margaret a chance because Bob did point out that Margaret (INAUDIBLE)
CARLSON: PJ points out, our fleet is going, partly that is our government dollars sending that and the more we send the better. They have a way of cleaning the water. They make water on the ship. It's the only way to do it. The more we do that the better and we can't do that individually. We are not giving money to the military.
O'ROURKE: But it's important to remember from a moral standpoint that there is no virtue to be gotten, no key to heaven in doing good with his money or your money or your money.
SHIELDS: I could not disagree with you more.
(CROSSTALK)
SHIELDS: What we do collectively is what we cannot do individually.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Well, that was just a sample of the CAPITAL GANG this weekend. Now in this year of big news events, the war, the election among them, well, one of the things that just happened just the last week that has gripped us the most. Bruce Morton reflects on the tsunami disaster and how it may have provided each of us a test when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: On New Year's Day we have a tendency to take stock of our lives as we look forward to the year ahead and reflect on the days that have passed. But the tsunami disaster seems to have eclipsed all of that. Our Bruce Morton says that such calamities, as horrible as they are, remind us of our bond with humanity.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the end of the year and we newsies usually make up lists, the top 10 stories and all that. But this year the tsunami, like the tsunami, has somehow swept everything else away. It is all we can look at, sometimes more than we can look at, all we can think about, sometimes more than we can bear to think about.
Human kind is to blame for most of the bad things that happen to us, for wars say. Human kind invented bombs that can destroy the planet. For the first time, America's Roman Catholic bishops noted some years ago, man can destroy God's created order.
But we didn't do this. It just happened to us. It happened to so many of us. In Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, people miles from there in Kenya, Somalia and in a real sense, it happened to all of us.
The tsunami in that sense is a test of our humanity, of the truth that we all do belong to one human family as one American said outside the Indonesian embassy the other day.
We're not as divided as we think we are and life is life and death is death and it made me realize just how close we all are, no matter what our skin color or our nationality or where we live.
MORTON: So a test of our humanity. We fail those sometimes, as when the world stood by and watched Hutus and Tutsis killed one another in Rwanda a few years ago. We pass them sometimes too as when the allies pitched in to help their defeated enemies, Germany and Japan, rebuild after World War II. And this time, governments are sending help, but so are people. Contributions to the Red Cross, to church groups and the like. People are sending money. People of faith are sending prayers. This was a service at the Sri Lankan embassy here in Washington.
The tsunami was terrifying. It really did shock and awe, but out of terror and tragedy, perhaps we can find the humanity that binds us all together. It's a hard test. Let's hope we pass it. Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: And that's all for this half hour. HOUSE CALL with Dr. Sanjay Gupta is straight ahead. He's going to have the latest on the tsunami relief effort right from the region. I'm going to be back in just a moment with the latest check of the headlines.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back. Here's a quick look at what's happening right now in the news. U.S. relief efforts are underway in tsunami ravaged Asia. American military helicopters are delivering medical teams and milk and water, nutritional supplements and other supplies to desperate survivors in Indonesia's Aceh Province. The U.S. has pledged $350 in tsunami relief aid so far.
Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan are both heading there to the tsunami stricken south Asia. Powell will lead a U.S. mission with President Bush's brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush tomorrow. Kofi Annan will go after a donor's conference next week in Jakarta.
A Palestinian official has made some significant public comments. Makmoud Abbas (ph) says rocket attacks against Israel are useless because they provoke Israeli retaliation. However, Abbas also rejected Israeli demands that he crack down on Palestinian militants. Abbas is the front runner in this month's election for PLO president. More headlines in an half an hour, but up next, HOUSE CALL. CNN's senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta's special report on the tsunami disaster. He reports from Sri Lanka. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information on this historic tragedy.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN ANCHOR, HOUSE CALL: Hello and welcome to a special edition of HOUSE CALL. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the island of Sri Lanka. It is night time here in Sri Lanka while it is daytime in the U.S. on the other side of the world.
More than 40,000 people have died. More than a million people have been displaced, all at the hands of a terrible earthquake and a major tsunami which came ashore earlier this week. The rising death toll shows no signs of slowing down. Pour sanitation, a failing public health system and inadequate medications all threaten to claim thousands of more lives. I've been here since Tuesday and I've had a chance to sit down to talk to the people who have been most affected by the tsunami, those who need medical care, those who have lost loved ones and those who have lost their homes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): These devout Christians sisters had celebrated Christmas together the day before as they had done for the past 40 years. Even after they were married, they chose to live next door to each other and on the morning of December 26th, they woke up at 5:30, had a traditional Sri Lankan breakfast of rice and bal (ph) and then three hours later, watched as both of their husbands drowned in the tsunami while saving their children.
TRANSLATOR: When the second wave came, we were looking for our son and my husband went out to search for him and found him in a tree. He rescued him and both of them were running for their lives. Later, my son was found alive but my husband was missing. He had been drowned.
GUPTA: It all happened in less than 20 minutes.
TRANSLATOR: The water was rising and the sea was coming. We ran for our lives but it caught us and the water almost came up to our necks. We managed to escape from the first wave, which destroyed our house. The second wave came and took us by surprise. There was just so much water I didn't know what to do.
GUPTA: Remarkably, their story is not unique. Swerna and Mary Anna Sebastian Francis (ph) are among the 3,000 displaced people in this town alone. Its coastal location turned this already deprived fishing community into one of the most vulnerable in the country. Most here are now widows and orphans. So what are they going to do now?
TRANSLATOR: We don't know what to do next. Right now we don't have a source of income. We'll need to look for jobs, but they are scarce.
GUPTA: Days later, they had their health for the most part. Swerna had her leg banged up pretty badly. Maryanna has bandages all over her hand, but they're not from the tsunami she told me, but rather from carrying the coffin of her husband and then refusing to let it go.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: And that death toll continues to rise. The concern now though is the second wave, the wave of cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A, malaria. What's to be done about those diseases that could cause more death than the tsunami itself. We asked a leading doctor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: So what goes through your mind when you walk into a place like this?
DR. SHIRANTHA RATWATTE, APOLLO HOSPITALS: Well, the first thing that strikes you is the number of people that is (INAUDIBLE) in one place without even the basic facilities and these people are depressed, devastated. They have lost so much and they have no hopes of the future at least at the moment.
GUPTA: What is the biggest concern that you do had now that they've survived the tsunami? What's their biggest immediate concern?
RATWATTE: The biggest problem is with regard to condition again. There is a very real need. I mean they're in real danger of diseases spreading. People are not in a position, in a psychological state to abide by the normal rules of hygiene.
GUPTA: How are you going to be able to take care of all these people? There's so many of them.
RATWATTE: It's going to be very difficult.
GUPTA: Possible?
RATWATTE: Probably not, at least not short term. We are thinking about 1 1/2 million people displaced. That's 1/10 of the population and (INAUDIBLE) developing country.
GUPTA: What's the biggest thing Sri Lanka needs right now?
RATWATTE: Now that is one big thing. It's probably shelter.
GUPTA: Shelter.
RATWATTE: I think so because most people have - those who have survived have minor injuries and which have been taken care of. And the biggest question we will have to answer at that stage is how to provide the shelter, how to build their houses which have been totally destroyed in most cases.
GUPTA: What's the biggest thing that surprise you about everything that's happened? RATWATTE: Is the psychological trauma, more than the physical injury. It is the way people deal with this kind of loss. Most of them have lost their children, some their parents, other their husbands, wage earners and it has been a lot on them but surprisingly people are coping up. I personally don't know how.
GUPTA: They say something good comes out of something bad.
RATWATTE: Well, yes, I mean this has brought almost the whole country together. A lot of people have done their part and they feel the need to do so.
GUPTA: How's this going to end?
RATWATTE: If another tsunami doesn't come? Well, it's a big question. The initial task is to probably take care of the people who are displaced, prevent any major infections (INAUDIBLE) which would then endanger their lives further and also the rest of the community and once that is done, how to help them deal with this trauma and how to help them to rebuild their lives in the best way possible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: The tsunami is long gone, but it has left many children without parents. When HOUSE CALL continues, we're going to show you what local efforts are being done to try and provide these smallest victims with a safe haven. Also, do you want to help? We're going to tell you how. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUPTA: Welcome back to HOUSE CALL. We're coming to you from Dodangoda (ph), Sri Lanka. That's south of the country's capital Colombo. But it is in Colombo where we found the organizers of a makeshift orphanage and the remarkable thing is, they're pledging to take in all the children left without parents.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Here are the consequences of the tsunami. A Buddhist temple suddenly turned to orphanage and hundreds of new nameless faces, vulnerable looks that only children can give.
We're obviously surrounded by a lot of children, all displaced by the tsunami. Hard to believe they can smile. Some are still painfully shy and most for the time being anyway, oblivious to just how much their future has changed.
How many displaced have there been as a result of the tsunami?
DR. THUSHARA RANASINGHE, VOLUNTEER, SARVODAYA RELIEF: We don't have the correct figures yet, but should be children and the women.
GUPTA: More than a million at least and many of these families from some of the most deprived areas of the country, now more deprived than ever. What do you do for them here? RANASINGHE: What happens is here, we supply the food and the medicine and whatever the basic facilities they need at the moment.
GUPTA: At a time when care and relief arrive in cargo planes, no amount of aid can ever give them back their parents. But still, here's where the story gets a little hopeful.
RANASINGHE: Any children under 10 years who are without the parents just let us know and we are (INAUDIBLE) and we will plan their future.
GUPTA: You can really tell how bad something is in the country by how the kids are doing, can't you?
RANASINGHE: These are the vulnerable groups and these are the future of the country.
GUPTA: And so by that measure, Sri Lanka is doing better than you might expect.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Behind me is what remains of a home on the south coast of Sri Lanka, another example of the devastation caused by the tsunami and five million people in this part of the world are now without basic necessities: safe water, safe food and medications. But aid organizations are hard at work trying to get the right supplies to the right people at the right time.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Everyone keeps saying help is on the way. The problem is, it isn't here yet. So in a country where public health barely exists, the people of Sri Lanka are rising up to care for their own.
What is the most important thing that you're seeing out in the field?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are a couple of immediate public health problems out there, outbreaks of diarrhea and certain other infectious diseases taking place on the (INAUDIBLE).
GUPTA: Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, head of the country's largest NGO, gave us a behind the scenes look at one of the earliest command centers. It was set up just two hours after the first wave hit shore. Two hundreds doctors were organized and immediately sent all over the country and this, a rudimentary map kept track of the displaced and the dead.
The situation is even more complicated. Because many experts make the mistake of thinking that all parts of Sri Lanka face the same difficulties.
I think what's sort of startling is that all these different districts have very different needs, everything from milk, food, to salt, 500 kilograms, boxes of matches, 5,000 packets. You got it down pretty specifically.
And it's these details that make all the difference. Giving the right supplies to the right places at the right times. And only organizations that are boots on the ground have that right information, organizations such as the NGO Sarvodaya, a Sanskrit word meaning awakening of all.
Do you think the tsunami has inspired a wakening of all?
DR. VINYA ARIYARATNE, DIRECTOR, SARVODAYA RELIEF: Tsunami is the wave of destruction. At the same time, there's a tremendous amount of compassion so we think that there is a wave of compassion as well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: It can almost be too much for the heart to bear, learning of simple injuries that are now death threats. Widows who are too young, far too young to have lost a spouse and orphans who now lives in temples. What's even worse and more frustrating though is that for these survivors, things might be getting worse because of disease. That story when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUPTA: This is just an example of the devastation cause by the tsunami. These are railroad tracks that were literally pried from the earth's surface. But now there are now challenges that lie ahead. Health officials worry that diseases like cholera, dysentery, malaria, could kill as many people as the tsunami itself. Pour sanitation and a failing public health system are putting the people of this region at grave risk.
The biggest goal here in Sri Lanka is to ensure those who survive the tsunami stay living. Health officials warning tonight that as many people may die from disease in these tsunami-devastated areas as died from the actual tsunami itself. And from what we've seen here on the ground in Sri Lanka, we'd have to agree.
You see the public health system here struggles in the best of times. Now it seems practically nonexistent. Makeshift morgues, burial sites, often overflowing with the gruesome sight of decomposing bodies. Hospitals without reliable electricity, running water or communication systems now treating everything from broken bones and infections to dehydration and heat stroke. But it's an epidemic of infectious diseases that worries doctors here most.
It's the water supply that now poses the biggest danger to those who survived the killer waves of water that swept ashore here Sunday. Water and food contaminated by human waste and salt water from the sea can lead to diseases like cholera and dysentery, which could be fatal. Standing water from the flooding can attract mosquitoes, spawning outbreaks of malaria and dengue fever. Those left homeless, those trying to survive on the streets also face the threat of respiratory illness from bacteria and viruses that quickly spread when unsanitary conditions exist. Relief efforts now focus on water purification systems and distribution of bottled water being flown in by aid groups, quick burial of bodies and clean up of sewage and debris, the providing of safe and sanitary shelter to those who have been left homeless as well as clean temporary medical clinics to treat the sick as well as the injured.
In the minutes and hours after the tsunami, many people became unintended heroes, reaching out to strangers and saving lives. We found one family that turned from being tourists into miracle workers. They're a family of doctors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): At a time when many tourists and vacationers have vividly recounted their stories of survival and loss, one family can tell the story of their own personal relief effort.
DR. WT MAYESWARAN (ph), VOLUNTEER DOCTOR: Well, we had come from UK from holiday. And then we had to cut short our holiday because of the things that happened here.
DR. DHAMUSNA MAYESWARAN, VOLUNTEER DOCTOR: (INAUDIBLE) like this before (INAUDIBLE) in shock and then you just say, well, (INAUDIBLE)
WT MAYESWARAN: Today we have visited (INAUDIBLE) and we have treated roughly about 400 patients.
GUPTA: The Mayeswaran family emigrated to the UK years ago, but it managed to return to beautiful Sri Lanka for holiday every few years. But as the entire world now knows, this trip was different. Father WT had been a medical doctor for more than 40 years. Dr. Dhamusna is 24 years old and had just graduated from medical school.
WT MAYESWARAN: We heard about this on the radio and we were traveling in the car radio.
D. MAYESWARAN: (INAUDIBLE) feel like we should be able to do something (INAUDIBLE)
GUPTA: Voyha is 20 years old and in her third year of medical school. The Mayeswaren doctors have joined the handful of Sri Lankan doctors who are in their native country to offer their services.
VOYHA MAYESWARAN, VOLUNTEER AID WORKER: Every single day (INAUDIBLE) the death toll was just even higher than it had been 10 minutes ago. We were quite lucky (INAUDIBLE)
GUPTA: Do you feel like you did some good here?
WT MAYESWARAN: Yes.
D. MAYESWARAN: It's really nice to feel like (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: When HOUSE CALL returns, we'll show you some ways you can get involved with the relief effort. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUPTA: Welcome back to a special edition of HOUSE CALL. The New Year here in Sri Lanka, as with other parts of the world, is a time of celebration. Although for the displaced and the deprived, it's been a significant time of hardship. Still, we found that many took time to ring in the New Year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: We wondered what would happen here in Sri Lanka on New Year's Eve and in many ways we were surprised. Typically in many cultures festivities are stopped, even forbidden after great tragedies like the tsunami. Sri Lanka, which is 70 percent Buddhist, is no different, but at least here in one southern Sri Lankan fishing town, something quite different seems to have happened.
With a quiet resolve, these 3,000 displaced and deprived put on their best clothes and literally rose up, marched, prayed and lit candles, an optimistic group that celebrated despite great hardships, the simple fact that they had survived. Proof, as the bells ring in the New Year, that a wave, no matter how big or strong, can't carry everything away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Over the past half hour, you have witnessed the devastation caused by the worst natural disaster most of us will ever see in our lifetime. The stories are tragic no doubt but as we learned as well, sometimes a little bit of good comes from something so bad.
Stay with CNN for all the latest information on the tsunami disaster. I'll be here throughout the week to provide updates for the health and human toll of this devastating act of mother nature. Thanks for watching. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Stay tuned now for more news on CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 1, 2005 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: LIVE SATURDAY: I'm Carol Lin and welcome to a special hour of coverage of the tsunami on CNN LIVE SATURDAY. We're going to be talking about getting aid to the people who need it the most. The first U.S. aid flights head to towns that are no longer on the map. The survivors and their frantic efforts to reach the food.
Also CNN's Sanjay Gupta is in the tsunami region. His story tonight on the health concerns that could be the next chapter in this disaster.
First I want to tell you what else is happening right now in the news. U.S. aid is arriving in parts of south Asia devastated by the tsunamis. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Anan will visit the disaster area next week. A U.S. delegation heads to the region tomorrow. And in this country, President Bush has ordered U.S. flags to fly at half staff for a week of mourning for the victims. We are going to have reports from south Asia in two minutes.
In the meantime, more violence in Iraq. The government, at least a government official and his brother were killed today in Baquba. Insurgents have carried out similar attacks recently. U.S. and Iraqi officials say they are meant to derail this month's elections.
And the death toll in that night club fire in Argentina has risen to 186. The club's owner is in custody pending an investigation and police are looking for his three business partners. Authorities say some of the club's emergency exits were tied shut.
We begin this New Year with just some glimmers of hope, even amid all the devastation, the grim reality of the aftermath of this major tsunami. As the first global relief shipments begin to arrive across the region, the death toll from that earthquake and tsunamis have climbed to more than 140,000.
And adding to all of that, heavy rains are complicating efforts to get help to those tsunami victims in eastern Sri Lanka. Flash floods, you're looking at some of the devastation there, wiped out several refugee camps and flooded roads, making it almost impossible to deliver emergency supplies. And worldwide donations to tsunami victims are totaling about $2 billion. Japan's prime minister today said his country would boost its pledge from $30 million to $500 million, making Japan the single largest contributor to relief efforts.
Now U.S. aid has started to arrive in the disaster zone nearly a week after the tsunami swamped coastlines across that region. CNN's senior Asian correspondent Mike Chinoy has an exclusive on board the first U.S. military helicopter to land in hard-hit Banda Aceh Province of Indonesia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the first day of the year, we joined the U.S. Navy for a flight to a town that no longer exists. At Banda Aceh airport, sailors from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln loaded an SH-60 helicopter with containers of milk and nutritional supplements. We climbed aboard and Commander Frank Michael, Lieutenant Beau Beman (ph) and Chief Petty Officer Gerry Schwartz eased the chopper into the sky.
It was the first U.S. military flight bringing relief to the areas worst hit by the disaster. The mission was to find the town of Kudatsunam (ph) if there was any of it left and deliver food to the survivors if there were any.
Kudatsunam, population just under 10,000, was 110 kilometers, 70 miles south down the coast. Within minutes, we were flying over a wasteland. These had been towns and villages. The tsunami left them looking like they'd been hit by a nuclear bomb and the sea on this day seemed so calm. Eventually, a few intact structures came into view, including several mosques, evidently build more sturdily and able to withstand the waves.
We neared Kudatsunam and then suddenly we saw them, a small number of survivors. One emerged from the rubble and frantically raced towards us. But his hopes for help were dashed. There was no safe place near him for Commander Michael to land.
It took 10 minutes of circling to find a location, 10 minutes to begin to absorb the unimaginable catastrophe that had befallen the town. We touched down in a cloud of dust. Gerry Schwartz put the first box of milk out and a crowd swarmed towards the chopper. They were people, but they acted like a hungry wild pack.
Fearing they might swamp the chopper, Gerry Schwartz pleaded with the crowd to move back.
We are the first people that these survivors have seen since the disaster. Their desperation is palpable. They've had nothing to eat, almost nothing to drink. Their entire town is in ruins. These people though are at least alive. We've been trying for an hour from Banda Aceh along the coast and until now, we didn't see a single living person.
Aceh has drowned this man cried. There's nothing left. We're finished. One man grabbed our microphone. Thank you, thank you he repeated. As soon as the last box was gone, Commander Michael lifted off. But a second SH-60 soon arrived, carrying a U.S. Navy medical team.
On the way back, the crew seemed lost in thought. The aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln is steaming just off Banda Aceh. It's the nerve center for the U.S. military's relief operation. We landed to take on more fuel. There are 6,500 sailors on this ship, the senior officer told me. They're dying to come ashore and help. Then we left the carrier heading back for more supplies to Banda Aceh airport now full of American, Australian and Indonesian relief planes.
CPO GERRY SCHWARTZ, U.S. NAVY: Mike it was absolutely overwhelming. I've got 20 years of naval aviation. I've picked everyone up from downed aviators to stranded mariners. Never before had I experienced anything as overwhelming. Fearful yet really exhilarating to see that we're actually helping those in need and they are clearly in need, dire need.
CMDR. FRANK MICHAEL, U.S. NAVY: We're here and we've got a lot of helicopters and we're going to keep doing what we're doing.
CHINOY: Then it was back to Kudatsunam day one of a mission of mercy that will have to last a very long time. Mike Chinoy, CNN, Aceh, Indonesia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Well, after Indonesia, the second highest death toll in the tsunami disaster is in the island nation of Sri Lanka. More than 45,000 people there were killed and at least 600,000 survivors cannot go home because of the damage. CNN's Satinder Bindra is at the site of a completely devastated hotel in Beruwala, which is in southwestern Sri Lanka. Satinder.
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, a massive naval relief operation is now underway here in southern Sri Lanka. At the moment, the Indians are at the forefront of this operation and they've launched their largest naval relief operation outside their waters, but soon the United States will get involved too and we understand an advance party of about 200 U.S. Marines will arrive here very shortly.
But in the meantime, the Indians have deployed 11 ships in these tsunami-ravaged waters. Seven of these ships are around in the waters of Sri Lanka and three of these ships are right here in the southern region where I am. Two of the ships arrived just yesterday Carol. One of them is a floating hospital. The other ship is carrying supplies and it's also carrying personnel that can help Sri Lanka rebuild its economy.
So far the Indians Carol, have delivered six tons of food, aid and medical supplies and the Indians say can deliver some 20 tons more. Most of the supplies are being delivered by helicopters. The Indians have also announced they'll be given the Sri Lankans $25 million in aid and Indian officials say this underscores the warm ties that exist between these south Asian neighbors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIRUPAMA RAO, INDIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER: There is a bond that ties ordinary Sri Lankans and ordinary Indians. That is most heartening to witness, especially in times such as these. People in India have reached out to people in Sri Lanka.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BINDRA: The biggest challenge now Carol for the Indians is to open up the harbor of Galle which is a southern town that was one of the worst affected areas. At the moment the harbor is blocked with all kinds of debris and several ships have sunk in that harbor. Indian naval divers are deployed and they are hopeful that they can open up a channel in the next two to three days.
LIN: So Satinder, it sounds like a lot of help is on the way, so what do you think is the greatest concern, the most immediate need right now?
BINDRA: The most immediate need right now Carol is for safe drinking water. Many people over the past four to five days have been complaining they don't have water. A lot of the water supplies here have been contaminated by the sea and even the Indian Navy officials told me yesterday, they're very very concerned about the possibility of an epidemic. So they're watching the situation very carefully. Their medical teams are out.
Several large international medical teams are here. The Russians are here. The Israelis are here. The French are here and as I just said, everyone is waiting and watching for the Americans to arrive. We understand the American party could consist of about 1,000 to 1,500 Marines. They'll be supported by a large ship, several hovercraft and we understand some 20 U.S. Blackhawk helicopters could also be involved in this ongoing relief mission.
LIN: All right. Thanks very much Satinder. In fact we've got much more about that on this special live report on CNN. We're going to be talking about the criticism that the president has had about the amount of donations, the delay in responding by the president to this disaster so stay tuned for the CAPITAL GANG which is going to weigh in straight ahead.
And at the bottom of the hour, Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the daunting task of showing how that the needy are being cared for on the ground. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: All right. We're taking a lot of time out of this day to update you on the tsunami disaster. And as a result of that, we're going to only air part of the CAPITAL GANG today. Tsunami headlines are dominating that program as well. From criticism about donations to President Bush's delay in responding to the disaster. Here's just a sample.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK SHIELDS, CNN ANCHOR, THE CAPITAL GANG: I'm Mark Shields with Kate O'Beirne, Robert Novak and Margaret Carlson. Our guest is P.J. O'Rourke of the "Atlantic Monthly." He's also the author of "Peace Kills: America's Fun New Imperialism." Thanks for coming in PJ.
PJ O'ROURKE, ATLANTIC MONTHLY: Thank you for having me here. SHIELDS: As the death toll mounted in the tsunami disaster, a United Nations official overseeing humanitarian aid had a complaint.
JAN EGELUND, UN RELIEF COORDINATOR: It is beyond me why we are - why are we so stingy really when we are - and even Christmastime should remind many western countries at least how rich we have become.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States is not stingy. We are the greatest contributor to international relief efforts in the world.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I felt like the person who made that statement was very misguided and ill-informed.
SHIELDS: The U.N. official later backed down.
EGELUND: No country was ever singled out by me. There is no country that is stingy. There are many generous countries now contributing to the tsunami victims.
SHIELDS: Meanwhile, after criticism that the president did not immediately speak out about the suffering, he did go public on Wednesday.
BUSH: We're committed to helping the effected countries in the difficult weeks and months that lie ahead.
SHIELDS: Kate O'Beirne, was the Bush administration too slow in responding to this tragedy?
KATE O'BEIRNE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mark, this incredible tragedy with an incomprehensible number of lost lives, is not about George Bush or America this time. So I think this whole controversy is silly. And the U.N. official of course is wrong as Colin Powell pointed out. I do sympathize with him though. If you run humanitarian aid for the U.N., there's so much human suffering in the world. It must seem that there's never enough to address it. But boy is he wrong about our system. He's said we ought to be raising taxes to help more.
He doesn't appreciate it's our relatively low taxes and free economy that permits us to be the number one donor in the world bar none, which means we do more than anybody else in the world to alleviate suffering. Our military of course plays a huge role in that too. Everybody benefits from the kind of stability we bring. But look, Americans give $34 billion privately to foreign aid, 10 times our public budget and far more than the U.N. gives and then our private foundations and Catholic relief services and private charities give far more than any U.N. office so he was wrong but it's understandable that in the face of this incredible suffering he feels he wants to do more. We all do.
SHIELDS: Margaret Carlson, is it possible that we don't grasp the full impact of this? I mean this was an earthquake that was 200 times more powerful than the Northridge earthquake in 1994 that paralyzed southern California. MARGARET CARLSON, TIME MAGAZINE: It is and as you're reading it and you see that this wall of water pinned people to tree branches and smashed them into - at a velocity that they died, you get a sense of it. But there aren't pictures that can convey it.
I disagree with Kate in that it was grudging and defensive of Bush in the press conference to extol how much America does. Percentage wise, we do not do all we could do. Foreign aid is one quarter of 1 percent. That's what the United States does and White House officials were quoted in the paper saying, well, Bush is the way - he didn't want to be Clinton feeling your pain. Well, let us just go on and deal with this at a higher level than dissing the Clinton administration, which by the way is no loner in charge.
SHIELD: Bob Novak. Your take on this.
BOB NOVAK, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: With this catastrophe, this disaster, for petty little people to count how many days it took George W. Bush to get out in public is shameful. I'm ashamed Margaret.
CARLSON: I didn't count the days.
NOVAK: I'm ashamed Margaret of anybody who plays that game. There is a certain kind of people and I hope you're not one of them, that anything that happens in the world, they find someway to bash George W. Bush and people are sick of it. Now this little Norwegian bureaucrat at the U.N., this is all part of a scheme to transfer the world's wealth from the well-run countries to the badly run countries. It's been going on for years and it's sickening and annoying and let me tell you this, there is no more generous people in the world than Americans and you should admit it. The American Red Cross has received so far in individual donations from Americans $18 million.
O'ROURKE: Besides the money that the United States is able to provide, we're sending our fleet there. I mean we are able to provide infrastructure and organization, which in many cases would be more important than the actual dollar amount of aid to be given.
SHIELDS: I just add Margaret's point, Norway and this little bureaucrat whom you denigrate, give rate, a per capita rate seven times what the United States does give. If you're talking about what they do collectively as a people, what they do collectively as a people, what they do formally through their government and their government agencies and that's -- and I think that is a statement of what the collective value is and I think that is not unimportant.
NOVAK: You're just ignoring what she said.
SHIELDS: No, I'm not ignoring, I'm not ignoring at all what she said. I'm simply pointing out as a country, as a country
(CROSSTALK)
SHIELDS: It's our lead. It's our lead.
O'BEIRNE: As a country we give far more. Look, Americans have always taken a suspicious view of official foreign aid (ph) and with good reason. There's a lot of waste, a lot of inefficiencies. We give as a country and citizens together, billions more than any other countries per capita, far more than any other countries. We give our own money, exactly, not his money or your money, our own willingly, voluntarily.
SHIELDS: There certainly is a virtue, is there (ph) certainly a virtue, there are certain things that we cannot do individually, but I'll give Margaret a chance because Bob did point out that Margaret (INAUDIBLE)
CARLSON: PJ points out, our fleet is going, partly that is our government dollars sending that and the more we send the better. They have a way of cleaning the water. They make water on the ship. It's the only way to do it. The more we do that the better and we can't do that individually. We are not giving money to the military.
O'ROURKE: But it's important to remember from a moral standpoint that there is no virtue to be gotten, no key to heaven in doing good with his money or your money or your money.
SHIELDS: I could not disagree with you more.
(CROSSTALK)
SHIELDS: What we do collectively is what we cannot do individually.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Well, that was just a sample of the CAPITAL GANG this weekend. Now in this year of big news events, the war, the election among them, well, one of the things that just happened just the last week that has gripped us the most. Bruce Morton reflects on the tsunami disaster and how it may have provided each of us a test when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: On New Year's Day we have a tendency to take stock of our lives as we look forward to the year ahead and reflect on the days that have passed. But the tsunami disaster seems to have eclipsed all of that. Our Bruce Morton says that such calamities, as horrible as they are, remind us of our bond with humanity.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the end of the year and we newsies usually make up lists, the top 10 stories and all that. But this year the tsunami, like the tsunami, has somehow swept everything else away. It is all we can look at, sometimes more than we can look at, all we can think about, sometimes more than we can bear to think about.
Human kind is to blame for most of the bad things that happen to us, for wars say. Human kind invented bombs that can destroy the planet. For the first time, America's Roman Catholic bishops noted some years ago, man can destroy God's created order.
But we didn't do this. It just happened to us. It happened to so many of us. In Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, people miles from there in Kenya, Somalia and in a real sense, it happened to all of us.
The tsunami in that sense is a test of our humanity, of the truth that we all do belong to one human family as one American said outside the Indonesian embassy the other day.
We're not as divided as we think we are and life is life and death is death and it made me realize just how close we all are, no matter what our skin color or our nationality or where we live.
MORTON: So a test of our humanity. We fail those sometimes, as when the world stood by and watched Hutus and Tutsis killed one another in Rwanda a few years ago. We pass them sometimes too as when the allies pitched in to help their defeated enemies, Germany and Japan, rebuild after World War II. And this time, governments are sending help, but so are people. Contributions to the Red Cross, to church groups and the like. People are sending money. People of faith are sending prayers. This was a service at the Sri Lankan embassy here in Washington.
The tsunami was terrifying. It really did shock and awe, but out of terror and tragedy, perhaps we can find the humanity that binds us all together. It's a hard test. Let's hope we pass it. Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: And that's all for this half hour. HOUSE CALL with Dr. Sanjay Gupta is straight ahead. He's going to have the latest on the tsunami relief effort right from the region. I'm going to be back in just a moment with the latest check of the headlines.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back. Here's a quick look at what's happening right now in the news. U.S. relief efforts are underway in tsunami ravaged Asia. American military helicopters are delivering medical teams and milk and water, nutritional supplements and other supplies to desperate survivors in Indonesia's Aceh Province. The U.S. has pledged $350 in tsunami relief aid so far.
Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan are both heading there to the tsunami stricken south Asia. Powell will lead a U.S. mission with President Bush's brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush tomorrow. Kofi Annan will go after a donor's conference next week in Jakarta.
A Palestinian official has made some significant public comments. Makmoud Abbas (ph) says rocket attacks against Israel are useless because they provoke Israeli retaliation. However, Abbas also rejected Israeli demands that he crack down on Palestinian militants. Abbas is the front runner in this month's election for PLO president. More headlines in an half an hour, but up next, HOUSE CALL. CNN's senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta's special report on the tsunami disaster. He reports from Sri Lanka. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information on this historic tragedy.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN ANCHOR, HOUSE CALL: Hello and welcome to a special edition of HOUSE CALL. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the island of Sri Lanka. It is night time here in Sri Lanka while it is daytime in the U.S. on the other side of the world.
More than 40,000 people have died. More than a million people have been displaced, all at the hands of a terrible earthquake and a major tsunami which came ashore earlier this week. The rising death toll shows no signs of slowing down. Pour sanitation, a failing public health system and inadequate medications all threaten to claim thousands of more lives. I've been here since Tuesday and I've had a chance to sit down to talk to the people who have been most affected by the tsunami, those who need medical care, those who have lost loved ones and those who have lost their homes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): These devout Christians sisters had celebrated Christmas together the day before as they had done for the past 40 years. Even after they were married, they chose to live next door to each other and on the morning of December 26th, they woke up at 5:30, had a traditional Sri Lankan breakfast of rice and bal (ph) and then three hours later, watched as both of their husbands drowned in the tsunami while saving their children.
TRANSLATOR: When the second wave came, we were looking for our son and my husband went out to search for him and found him in a tree. He rescued him and both of them were running for their lives. Later, my son was found alive but my husband was missing. He had been drowned.
GUPTA: It all happened in less than 20 minutes.
TRANSLATOR: The water was rising and the sea was coming. We ran for our lives but it caught us and the water almost came up to our necks. We managed to escape from the first wave, which destroyed our house. The second wave came and took us by surprise. There was just so much water I didn't know what to do.
GUPTA: Remarkably, their story is not unique. Swerna and Mary Anna Sebastian Francis (ph) are among the 3,000 displaced people in this town alone. Its coastal location turned this already deprived fishing community into one of the most vulnerable in the country. Most here are now widows and orphans. So what are they going to do now?
TRANSLATOR: We don't know what to do next. Right now we don't have a source of income. We'll need to look for jobs, but they are scarce.
GUPTA: Days later, they had their health for the most part. Swerna had her leg banged up pretty badly. Maryanna has bandages all over her hand, but they're not from the tsunami she told me, but rather from carrying the coffin of her husband and then refusing to let it go.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: And that death toll continues to rise. The concern now though is the second wave, the wave of cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A, malaria. What's to be done about those diseases that could cause more death than the tsunami itself. We asked a leading doctor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: So what goes through your mind when you walk into a place like this?
DR. SHIRANTHA RATWATTE, APOLLO HOSPITALS: Well, the first thing that strikes you is the number of people that is (INAUDIBLE) in one place without even the basic facilities and these people are depressed, devastated. They have lost so much and they have no hopes of the future at least at the moment.
GUPTA: What is the biggest concern that you do had now that they've survived the tsunami? What's their biggest immediate concern?
RATWATTE: The biggest problem is with regard to condition again. There is a very real need. I mean they're in real danger of diseases spreading. People are not in a position, in a psychological state to abide by the normal rules of hygiene.
GUPTA: How are you going to be able to take care of all these people? There's so many of them.
RATWATTE: It's going to be very difficult.
GUPTA: Possible?
RATWATTE: Probably not, at least not short term. We are thinking about 1 1/2 million people displaced. That's 1/10 of the population and (INAUDIBLE) developing country.
GUPTA: What's the biggest thing Sri Lanka needs right now?
RATWATTE: Now that is one big thing. It's probably shelter.
GUPTA: Shelter.
RATWATTE: I think so because most people have - those who have survived have minor injuries and which have been taken care of. And the biggest question we will have to answer at that stage is how to provide the shelter, how to build their houses which have been totally destroyed in most cases.
GUPTA: What's the biggest thing that surprise you about everything that's happened? RATWATTE: Is the psychological trauma, more than the physical injury. It is the way people deal with this kind of loss. Most of them have lost their children, some their parents, other their husbands, wage earners and it has been a lot on them but surprisingly people are coping up. I personally don't know how.
GUPTA: They say something good comes out of something bad.
RATWATTE: Well, yes, I mean this has brought almost the whole country together. A lot of people have done their part and they feel the need to do so.
GUPTA: How's this going to end?
RATWATTE: If another tsunami doesn't come? Well, it's a big question. The initial task is to probably take care of the people who are displaced, prevent any major infections (INAUDIBLE) which would then endanger their lives further and also the rest of the community and once that is done, how to help them deal with this trauma and how to help them to rebuild their lives in the best way possible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: The tsunami is long gone, but it has left many children without parents. When HOUSE CALL continues, we're going to show you what local efforts are being done to try and provide these smallest victims with a safe haven. Also, do you want to help? We're going to tell you how. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUPTA: Welcome back to HOUSE CALL. We're coming to you from Dodangoda (ph), Sri Lanka. That's south of the country's capital Colombo. But it is in Colombo where we found the organizers of a makeshift orphanage and the remarkable thing is, they're pledging to take in all the children left without parents.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Here are the consequences of the tsunami. A Buddhist temple suddenly turned to orphanage and hundreds of new nameless faces, vulnerable looks that only children can give.
We're obviously surrounded by a lot of children, all displaced by the tsunami. Hard to believe they can smile. Some are still painfully shy and most for the time being anyway, oblivious to just how much their future has changed.
How many displaced have there been as a result of the tsunami?
DR. THUSHARA RANASINGHE, VOLUNTEER, SARVODAYA RELIEF: We don't have the correct figures yet, but should be children and the women.
GUPTA: More than a million at least and many of these families from some of the most deprived areas of the country, now more deprived than ever. What do you do for them here? RANASINGHE: What happens is here, we supply the food and the medicine and whatever the basic facilities they need at the moment.
GUPTA: At a time when care and relief arrive in cargo planes, no amount of aid can ever give them back their parents. But still, here's where the story gets a little hopeful.
RANASINGHE: Any children under 10 years who are without the parents just let us know and we are (INAUDIBLE) and we will plan their future.
GUPTA: You can really tell how bad something is in the country by how the kids are doing, can't you?
RANASINGHE: These are the vulnerable groups and these are the future of the country.
GUPTA: And so by that measure, Sri Lanka is doing better than you might expect.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Behind me is what remains of a home on the south coast of Sri Lanka, another example of the devastation caused by the tsunami and five million people in this part of the world are now without basic necessities: safe water, safe food and medications. But aid organizations are hard at work trying to get the right supplies to the right people at the right time.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Everyone keeps saying help is on the way. The problem is, it isn't here yet. So in a country where public health barely exists, the people of Sri Lanka are rising up to care for their own.
What is the most important thing that you're seeing out in the field?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are a couple of immediate public health problems out there, outbreaks of diarrhea and certain other infectious diseases taking place on the (INAUDIBLE).
GUPTA: Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, head of the country's largest NGO, gave us a behind the scenes look at one of the earliest command centers. It was set up just two hours after the first wave hit shore. Two hundreds doctors were organized and immediately sent all over the country and this, a rudimentary map kept track of the displaced and the dead.
The situation is even more complicated. Because many experts make the mistake of thinking that all parts of Sri Lanka face the same difficulties.
I think what's sort of startling is that all these different districts have very different needs, everything from milk, food, to salt, 500 kilograms, boxes of matches, 5,000 packets. You got it down pretty specifically.
And it's these details that make all the difference. Giving the right supplies to the right places at the right times. And only organizations that are boots on the ground have that right information, organizations such as the NGO Sarvodaya, a Sanskrit word meaning awakening of all.
Do you think the tsunami has inspired a wakening of all?
DR. VINYA ARIYARATNE, DIRECTOR, SARVODAYA RELIEF: Tsunami is the wave of destruction. At the same time, there's a tremendous amount of compassion so we think that there is a wave of compassion as well.
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GUPTA: It can almost be too much for the heart to bear, learning of simple injuries that are now death threats. Widows who are too young, far too young to have lost a spouse and orphans who now lives in temples. What's even worse and more frustrating though is that for these survivors, things might be getting worse because of disease. That story when we come back.
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GUPTA: This is just an example of the devastation cause by the tsunami. These are railroad tracks that were literally pried from the earth's surface. But now there are now challenges that lie ahead. Health officials worry that diseases like cholera, dysentery, malaria, could kill as many people as the tsunami itself. Pour sanitation and a failing public health system are putting the people of this region at grave risk.
The biggest goal here in Sri Lanka is to ensure those who survive the tsunami stay living. Health officials warning tonight that as many people may die from disease in these tsunami-devastated areas as died from the actual tsunami itself. And from what we've seen here on the ground in Sri Lanka, we'd have to agree.
You see the public health system here struggles in the best of times. Now it seems practically nonexistent. Makeshift morgues, burial sites, often overflowing with the gruesome sight of decomposing bodies. Hospitals without reliable electricity, running water or communication systems now treating everything from broken bones and infections to dehydration and heat stroke. But it's an epidemic of infectious diseases that worries doctors here most.
It's the water supply that now poses the biggest danger to those who survived the killer waves of water that swept ashore here Sunday. Water and food contaminated by human waste and salt water from the sea can lead to diseases like cholera and dysentery, which could be fatal. Standing water from the flooding can attract mosquitoes, spawning outbreaks of malaria and dengue fever. Those left homeless, those trying to survive on the streets also face the threat of respiratory illness from bacteria and viruses that quickly spread when unsanitary conditions exist. Relief efforts now focus on water purification systems and distribution of bottled water being flown in by aid groups, quick burial of bodies and clean up of sewage and debris, the providing of safe and sanitary shelter to those who have been left homeless as well as clean temporary medical clinics to treat the sick as well as the injured.
In the minutes and hours after the tsunami, many people became unintended heroes, reaching out to strangers and saving lives. We found one family that turned from being tourists into miracle workers. They're a family of doctors.
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GUPTA (voice-over): At a time when many tourists and vacationers have vividly recounted their stories of survival and loss, one family can tell the story of their own personal relief effort.
DR. WT MAYESWARAN (ph), VOLUNTEER DOCTOR: Well, we had come from UK from holiday. And then we had to cut short our holiday because of the things that happened here.
DR. DHAMUSNA MAYESWARAN, VOLUNTEER DOCTOR: (INAUDIBLE) like this before (INAUDIBLE) in shock and then you just say, well, (INAUDIBLE)
WT MAYESWARAN: Today we have visited (INAUDIBLE) and we have treated roughly about 400 patients.
GUPTA: The Mayeswaran family emigrated to the UK years ago, but it managed to return to beautiful Sri Lanka for holiday every few years. But as the entire world now knows, this trip was different. Father WT had been a medical doctor for more than 40 years. Dr. Dhamusna is 24 years old and had just graduated from medical school.
WT MAYESWARAN: We heard about this on the radio and we were traveling in the car radio.
D. MAYESWARAN: (INAUDIBLE) feel like we should be able to do something (INAUDIBLE)
GUPTA: Voyha is 20 years old and in her third year of medical school. The Mayeswaren doctors have joined the handful of Sri Lankan doctors who are in their native country to offer their services.
VOYHA MAYESWARAN, VOLUNTEER AID WORKER: Every single day (INAUDIBLE) the death toll was just even higher than it had been 10 minutes ago. We were quite lucky (INAUDIBLE)
GUPTA: Do you feel like you did some good here?
WT MAYESWARAN: Yes.
D. MAYESWARAN: It's really nice to feel like (INAUDIBLE)
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GUPTA: When HOUSE CALL returns, we'll show you some ways you can get involved with the relief effort. Stay tuned.
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GUPTA: Welcome back to a special edition of HOUSE CALL. The New Year here in Sri Lanka, as with other parts of the world, is a time of celebration. Although for the displaced and the deprived, it's been a significant time of hardship. Still, we found that many took time to ring in the New Year.
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GUPTA: We wondered what would happen here in Sri Lanka on New Year's Eve and in many ways we were surprised. Typically in many cultures festivities are stopped, even forbidden after great tragedies like the tsunami. Sri Lanka, which is 70 percent Buddhist, is no different, but at least here in one southern Sri Lankan fishing town, something quite different seems to have happened.
With a quiet resolve, these 3,000 displaced and deprived put on their best clothes and literally rose up, marched, prayed and lit candles, an optimistic group that celebrated despite great hardships, the simple fact that they had survived. Proof, as the bells ring in the New Year, that a wave, no matter how big or strong, can't carry everything away.
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GUPTA: Over the past half hour, you have witnessed the devastation caused by the worst natural disaster most of us will ever see in our lifetime. The stories are tragic no doubt but as we learned as well, sometimes a little bit of good comes from something so bad.
Stay with CNN for all the latest information on the tsunami disaster. I'll be here throughout the week to provide updates for the health and human toll of this devastating act of mother nature. Thanks for watching. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Stay tuned now for more news on CNN.
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