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Live From...
Massive Tsunamis Kill More than 22,000 in Asia
Aired December 27, 2004 - 13:00 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's coming again! Coming again! Back up!
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MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Without warning, walls of water slam ashore, killing thousands of people. We're live from areas devastated by a huge tsunami.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People were just running. And you saw some people flying back into the sea as well.
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BETTY NGUYEN, CO-HOST: Eyewitnesses to the destruction: survivors share their amazing stories of living through what's being called one of the worst natural disasters ever.
Coping with the crisis: thousands of people without food water and shelter. This hour, the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis and what is being done to help.
Plus, could it happen in the U.S.? We will take you inside tsunamis, how they're formed what sort of warning systems are in place on the Pacific coast.
From the CNN center here in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen in for Kyra Phillips.
O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
NGUYEN: Death came from the sea, says one Indian survivor of cataclysmic tsunamis. What did they do to deserve this? This is one of the worst natural disasters ever in the words of the U.N. emergency relief coordinator. Almost 22,000 known dead. Thousands more missing in wake of gigantic unstoppable waves born of an undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean. The quake itself was the strongest in decades.
We have coverage throughout the region beginning with this report from CNN's Heidi Collins.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HEIDI COLLINS, CO-ANCHOR (voice-over): An earthquake of epic proportions triggered powerful tsunamis across southeast Asia. The initial quake, measuring 9.0 in magnitude, hit about 100 miles off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island early Sunday morning.
The quake is the strongest in 40 years and fourth largest in recorded history.
Indonesia, India, and Sri Lanka were hardest hit as tsunami waves 30 feet high slammed ashore without warning, gargantuan walls of water engulfing entire coastal communities.
WALTER HAYES, SEISMOLOGIST: We had a sudden uplift of the ocean floor. That water has to go somewhere, and it's about 200 or 300 miles of -- involved, and that water rushes into shore with a speed of 300 or 400 miles per hour. There's no way to get out of the way without warning. And this one was too close to the shore to have adequate warning.
COLLINS: In Indonesia, many of the victims were in Aceh, in northern Sumatra. Flood waters surges more than six miles inland, leaving bodies in the treetops.
The low-lying area of Sri Lanka were defenseless against the tsunami. Thousands died there. Thousands more are missing.
In Thailand, 30-foot waves washed ashore in the resort area of Phuket. One survivor was in his boat when it hit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we were lucky, because just to the left of us was another small beach that was actually the Sampai (ph) Bay. And he just turned left and went straight for the beach. And we were wondering, why is he doing this? And we looked back, like back of us and we saw this wave about five feet high coming straight at us.
And so we were just lucky. We -- the boat just went straight for the beach and then, when it hit the sand, we all just jumped out and started running to the beach. We were lucky, because the beach actually went uphill. It was a bit steep. And so we kept running up the hill. And then we just saw the boat get crushed.
COLLINS: The massive waves swamped more than 1,200 miles of India's southern coastline, washing away villages, and it's feared, thousands of fishermen who were out at sea.
MANMOHAN SINGH, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER: My heart goes out in sympathy to all those families who have lost their dear ones due to this tragedy.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stand by, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia suffered, by far, the biggest loss of life in this horrific disaster, the scope of which will take days just merely to comprehend. So says the International Red Cross, which lists food, shelter, first aid and linking up families as the immediate top priorities.
We'll get more on the story from CNN's Satinder Bindra, who's in Sri Lanka.
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SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sri Lanka is bearing the brunt of this tragedy. As you mentioned, more than 10,000 people have been killed here. A million people have been displaced, and some 250,000 people are homeless.
The homeless are streaming into shelters like this one where I am. One and a half thousand people have now taken shelter here in this Catholic church. And this center is symbolic of what is going on elsewhere in the country, too, where thousands of such shelters are coming up.
People are being fed. They're being clothed in these shelters, and ordinary citizens, ordinary Sri Lankans are coming in with donations of money, with donations of food.
(on camera) Meanwhile, a now massive relief operation has been launched after Sri Lanka was hit by two massive tidal waves just yesterday. Today I noticed at the airport some dozens of western tourists. They were injured. Many of them were emotionally quite shattered. And they'd been brought into Colombo airport from far- flung areas in this country.
(voice-over) Also, we noticed later on the bodies of dead people from across the country are being brought in to Colombo, and they are being handed over to relatives.
So this operation continues, and officials are already warning us that even after numbers of dead have climbed, this number could go up possibly even higher over the next 24 to 48 hours.
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NGUYEN: And as if the death and devastation weren't bad enough, disease will soon be a major complication. Health officials fear sudden outbreak of malaria and diarrhea from contaminated water and respiratory tract infections, as well.
The Red Cross and Red Crescent are flying in medicine, but they desperately need donations of money, goods and services. We'll take a look at how you can help a little bit later this hour.
The killer waves, while they didn't spare exclusive resorts in southern Thailand, where witnesses described tourists drowning inside their hotel rooms. In recent hours, the known death toll has doubled in and around Phuket, and CNN's Aneesh Raman is there.
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ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're on the west coast of the island, the part that got the hardest destruction. It was the closest to the epicenter of this earthquake. The death toll today more than doubling. It now stands at close to 900. All expectations are that it will rise past 1,000.
The reason for the dramatic jump: as of last night, we were told, some 400 to 600 people were still lost out in the ocean. Rescue efforts were ongoing to try and get anyone who was still alive. But beginning today, bodies began washing ashore. They are continuing to do so tonight.
So it is likely, as I say, that number will go up.
Here on Phuket Island, the death toll, 130 people presumed dead. To the east of us on Phi Phi Island, the most severe destruction in terms of structural damage, the entire island basically wiped out. One official saying a clean sweep by the waves in taking out every building there.
And further on the actual coastline of mainland Thailand in the south, the resort area of Pung Na (ph) there, over 500 people now presumed dead.
In one sense, compared to the other areas that have been affected by these tsunami waves, Thailand is lucky. The infrastructure here on Phuket remains largely intact. No severe structural damage. So shelter remains, hospitals remain. Water is still, for the most part, getting to the areas it needs to.
In terms, though, of the Thais themselves, many of them would have been on the coastal areas. And there you saw the entire piers taken down by these -- by these huge waves. And so getting them relocated, basically, at this point, is all that the Thai government can do. A lot of them have to just literally rebuild their lives.
So really two constituencies for this government in this unprecedented catastrophe, trying to get the tourists the help they need and get them home, and trying to get the people that are Thai to get their lives started again.
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O'BRIEN: All throughout this morning we've been hearing amazing tales of survival. Joining us on the line right now is John Austin, who was vacationing in Phuket. He is on the line with us now.
John, can you hear us?
JOHN AUSTIN, SURVIVOR: Yes, I'm here.
O'BRIEN: All right. Tell us what you saw and what you heard.
AUSTIN: Well, what I saw and what I heard. Well, I was in my hotel room, staying at the Atika Botik Hotel (ph). I was here last year with my cousin. We meet up for a vacation every year. And I was on the first floor this time. It was the only room they had left, right in front of the pool. And it was in the morning. I can't remember what time. I actually had some breakfast after a long night out and rolled over listening to the Discovery Channel. It was some show about Hitler, how he survived 27 deaths. And I turned over, put it on sleep timer.
And within a couple of minutes or so I started to go into slumber and I heard the -- this -- the glass patio doors just busting open with -- and I knew it is -- I mean I've been around boats and water most of my life in the Caribbean and in St. Lawrence. And I have a boat right in Montreal, and I've been through many experiences. But this was just ridiculous.
The water entered into the room, and I swung out of bed and got into the corridor towards where the door was. Otherwise, I would have been dead against the wall where the bed is. And I got to the front door. And then the water, of course, was behind me and in a matter in seconds.
And I took the latch off, but of course the door opens inwards. And -- and I had water -- I looked around, and I had the TV, the bureau, the cabinets, the dressers, the -- all the closet stuff and some metal thing which must have been the wall safe behind me, and I was pinned and trapped in there.
And of course, within seconds the water was over my head, to the roof. And I was thinking, this -- this just can't be. I mean, you panic, you perish. But I had know control over this.
Normally -- you know I've seen a lot -- I've been through hurricanes and many tornadoes, and very foul, bad weather here and very many places. But I mean, this is -- you're powerless. And cubic feet of water, I mean a 300 square foot room, I mean, water weighs eight pounds a gallon, imagine what -- I'm a scuba diver, as well. I mean, I could have used a regulator at that point and some oxygen and an anchor, a ship's anchor. But this is ridiculous.
But finally, I was holding my breath and visions of death. I mean, I was powerless. Don't like to be in that position, of course. The door blew open at one point. I guess it was made have had plywood. Had it been a fire door, that would be the end of that. And I went through like a rocket, a torpedo, and flew over. And then I must have hit the railing outside my door, over the concrete pillar, because I was just smashed.
And then all this water, which was the whole roof and plus the pool behind. And my patio door was right in front of the pool. And I was just making sport with the owner the night before how you, know, could I -- that evening before, we had a party and he was there, could I go for a swim at 5 in the morning if I get back?
He says, yes, if you don't make any noise, no problem. And so the whole pool, I mean, was right in front of my window. The other apartments next to me were either protected by the restaurant, served as a breakwater, or the reception.
And so I was virtually in one room or maybe there is another one. And the people next door I found out later on weren't in the room.
But I mean, all this furniture and water just propelled me about 20 yards onto the other side where there's another hotel. And I was pinned up against some -- I don't know -- some concrete or whatever it was. And my both arms, torso, both legs were pinned. And all this water and all this furniture from all the rooms.
I mean I -- I'm a fighter and a survivor, but this is -- I mean, this is just -- just takes the cake. I mean, there's just no control. And of course, you know, the second time I'm pinned, and the water is way over my head. And I must have been there for -- I don't know how long. It seemed like an eternity. But maybe a minute? Two minutes? I don't know.
But I at some point, I tried everything within my power to fight to get loose, to free myself. With all the force of the water and the debris and so forth. I mean my lungs filled with water, and I -- visions and thoughts going through, is this all -- is this how I'm going to be found? Is this how I leave this earth?
And then I just gave it one last -- I pulled on my right arm and, somehow, it came free. And I twisted like a centrifugal force sort of thing, like a spiral, and by doing that I freed one leg. And all of a sudden the other arm. I just kept turning, and I came to the surface.
And as I came to the surface, the water, I grabbed on to the top --the second banister out of a railing of the walkway, and then I was being strewn like a torrential river with all this -- this power of this water and everything, and I grab on to the rung holding, you know, supporting the two banisters. And hung on.
And I guess all the water went inland, and -- and I was able to hang on just for about 30 seconds or a minute. I don't know how long it was. This stuff happened so fast, of course.
But the water did subside. It went down. I suppose the water, after leaving all these rooms and so forth, went inland, or wherever. And I was on top of this railing with no more strength to hold on.
And thank God -- and then I -- when I surfaced, I'd seen this guy lying naked on -- some distance away, and he saw me come out of the water. And I saw his eyes and he saw mine. And I mean, I was just shell-shocked. Couldn't say or do anything for some time.
I'm a very happy man to be alive.
O'BRIEN: John, that is truly a remarkable story.
AUSTIN: I lost all my belongings, but that doesn't matter. I mean, if you panic, you perish. But this is ridiculous. I mean you have no control over this.
And I suspect the authorities and everybody have done a miraculous job of -- of efficiency. I'm been to the Caribbean and something like this would just be total chaos. But they've done a marvelous job. But I suspect that the casualty total is a lot higher, because if I escaped that, I suspect a lot of people wouldn't have been able to.
O'BRIEN: Do you have any idea how long -- do you have any idea how long you were trapped under water?
AUSTIN: Well, at the room -- you know, it's hard to say. The room filled up and right to the ceiling. It didn't take very long. It seemed like an eternity, of course. But you know, Miles, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe it was 45 seconds. Maybe it was a minute.
And then the thing blew open finally and then the worst part about it was the second near-death experience when I was trapped. That was much worse on the other side. Now that must have been for a couple of minutes, because I mean, I'm a diver, and I -- scuba dive various parts of the world and I've been in the water all my life. So that's not really a problem. I know not to panic; if you panic you perish.
But I fought with every ounce of strength. And it just must have been the good Lord saying it wasn't my time or...
O'BRIEN: Somebody -- somebody was looking out for you, John Austin. I think somebody was, or something.
AUSTIN: Well, whoever it is, please send the message. Because I am -- I've lost all -- pretty much all of my belongings and so forth. But that doesn't matter. I'm pretty banged up.
And I -- I just fear for a lot of the other people. I don't think -- I think it's a lot worse than it is reported at this point.
O'BRIEN: John Austin, who was vacationing in Phuket, Thailand, normally of Montreal, Canada, with a truly remarkable story.
Orelon Sidney, it's hard to follow that with the mundane issues of how these things form, but let's talk about that. That is truly amazing, hearing that story.
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's amazing, and I'm not surprised, to be honest.
O'BRIEN: Well, and given what we know about these events, and the speed that they move at, we're talking about, you know, like airliner speeds. Right?
SIDNEY: Yes. Well, when they're out in the deep ocean, the deeper the water, the faster the waves travel. And so when they're out in the ocean they can travel hundreds of miles an hour.
As they get closer to land, they actually slow down and they come in at about 30 to 40 miles an hour. And then the waves that are normally stretched out start to compress, and that's why you have such high waves come in. One wave joins with another, pops up a little bit higher. Another wave comes in, a little bit higher.
So in this case, we've heard about -- I know of at least two waves that were, they say, about 30 feet tall that came in within minutes of each other.
O'BRIEN: And there's this effect call boring, where essentially that energy is kind of funneled into a harbor or whatever.
SIDNEY: Right, right.
O'BRIEN: Let's -- first of all, you know, before we get too far ahead, let's do tsunami 101.
SIDNEY: Geology 101.
O'BRIEN: Yes. And we've got a little animation which we've put together here. And we can roll that and we can sort of explain.
First of all, this is basically the earthquake event here. Right? That we're talking about?
SIDNEY: That's exactly right.
O'BRIEN: When one -- one piece of earth goes down, the other piece of earth goes up. Right?
SIDNEY: Right. And whenever you have any kind of vertical displacement in the sea floor, the water becomes disturbed. And then, as you can see in this animation, the wave goes out. In this case it's going this way. But the waves go out in all directions from that disturbance.
And this is actually what we call a subduction zone. Imagine that this is...
O'BRIEN: Right in here is the subduction zone.
SIDNEY: That's correct. Imagine that this is Sumatra here. This is the plate that dived beneath it.
O'BRIEN: Right. We've got to hold this thought for just a moment. We're going down to -- where are we going? We're going to Crawford, Texas, the president.
No?
TRENT DUFFY, DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: And the USAID briefed earlier today about all those efforts under way. As we said yesterday, the United States expresses its sincere condolences for the loss of life and suffering.
And we've been work since early yesterday morning to support American citizens who may have been affected in the region through the various embassies.
And with that, I will answer your questions.
Yes, Mark.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) number of letters from chiefs of state of nations. Do you have a list of those nations?
DUFFY: Yes. The president sent letters of condolence to leaders of the seven countries that were affected. I don't have that list handy, but we can get that for you. But the list of the seven countries that were affected mainly by the earthquake and the -- and the tsunamis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there any estimate of how much money we're going to be putting into this effort?
DUFFY: I think the State Department addressed some of that this afternoon. I mean, obviously the first thing that needs to be done is there needs to be an assessment of what can be done. There is some initial United States funds that are already flowing through the embassies. I think the dollar amounts are, you know, $400,000 at the early outgoing and then $4 million in the next few days.
But I would refer to you the State Department for more on the actual dollars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
DUFFY: That's something Secretary Powell addressed. He said that the Pacific fleet is going to look and see whether there is a role and what the role might be for the United States military.
I DID -- was able to check with the Pentagon as far as impact to the military from the earthquake and the tidal waves, and obviously keep in touch with the Pentagon. But as of now, we don't detect any large impact to the United States military at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is he going to make some phone calls as well or just going to write letters at this point?
DUFFY: All I have is the letters of condolences that he sent. We'll keep you updated on any other calls. As I said, the president spoke with Secretary Powell this morning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you just tell us, was he watching any of this? Has he seen images? Is he watching it on television?
DUFFY: He's been monitoring it very closely. He's seen some of the images on television, yes.
Deb?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there any anti-terrorism component to this? Is the administration concerned about -- that the terrorists might take advantage of this situation?
DUFFY: Well, the United States is always concerned about terrorist activity no matter what day it is and no what the matter what the events are. I mean, the president's most solemn obligation is to protect the American people.
And certainly, I mean, any time that there's events like this, the U.S. government will be working overtime to ensure that the American people are protected and the war on terrorism goes on.
So as far as any specific activities, obviously, we wouldn't get into any classified types of information. But the American people can rest assured that no matter what happens in the world, the government will do everything it can to protect the American people from terrorism.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the Sunni parties in Iraq said they would not participate in the election because of security concerns. Does this give rise to any concerns about the credibility or the legitimacy of the election if this party is not participating, if Sunnis don't participate?
DUFFY: Well, I think that Secretary Powell addressed this as well, but our interest is we want as broad a participation as possible in the Iraqi elections. And we're urging all parties to participate.
O'BRIEN: All right. That obviously not the president of the United States. That's Trent Duffy, one of his spokesmen, Crawford, Texas, giving us a little rundown of what the United States is doing in the way of relief for this terrible tragedy in and around the Indian Ocean.
We'll be back. We'll continue with Orelon Sidney, and we have much more coverage for you after a brief break. Stay with us.
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NGUYEN: This just in to CNN. The Arabic language network Al Jazeera is broadcasting today an audiotape which is claiming to be from Osama bin Laden. We do not know the contents of this tape or the authenticity of this tape, but we are trying to verify all of this.
But again, Al Jazeera is broadcasting an audiotape reportedly from Osama bin Laden today. We, of course, will continue to follow this.
Also, the latest attack on Iraqi politicians and politics in general killed at least six people today and wounded more than 30 in the capital. It was yet another suicide car bombing, this time outside the headquarters of the nation's largest political party, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Its leader is a top Shiite candidate in next month's elections. He was home when the blast went off and is not hurt.
A major Sunni organization says it will sit the elections out, citing vague electoral procedures and especially a lack of security. Over the weekend, a high-ranking member of the Iraqi Nation Party and the founder of Iraq's Women and Democracy Foundation were gunned down near their homes in Baghdad -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: The numbers are just staggering: more than 22,000 dead now. And of course, still trying to figure out the scope of all of this.
Helping us understand at least the natural aspects of it, what the earth was doing, what the earth is all about when it is creating these earthquakes and tsunamis, Orelon Sidney.
We were interrupted, so let's start from the top, if you will. And we'll call this tsunami 101. Essentially what we're talking about is having an earthquake at the bottom of the sea.
Let's roll the animation. And why don't you explain what's going on there?
SIDNEY: Well, what's happening here is the technical term is called subduction. And that is one tectonic plate, this one, is riding beneath another plate, this one. This plate is the one that has Sumatra on it, this one here, because the continental plates are lighter than the oceanic plates.
Whenever you have a disturbance like this, the ocean is going to have to respond. And so what we'll see...
O'BRIEN: Sending energy upward, in other words.
SIDNEY: Exactly. What we'll see as this goes on, now the waves come out, and they go out in all directions from this particular.
O'BRIEN: One that way and that way. But were we're getting a little depiction. That makes it seem kind of small. But what we're talking about are walls of water here, right?
SIDNEY: Actually on the open ocean, they're extremely small.
O'BRIEN: Oh, they are? Really?
SIDNEY: You can hardly detect them if you're in a boat or in a dinghy or something, you wouldn't even know it.
O'BRIEN: Because it's so deep, right?
SIDNEY: Because it's so deep. As we go on towards the shore, the waves begin to compress.
O'BRIEN: Look at that next graphic, because that actually shows what you were talking about there. The waves kind of compress.
SIDNEY: They compress, and they catch up with each other.
O'BRIEN: Right.
SIDNEY: And they start to increase in size. And then they slam on to the coast, as we've heard, with waves up o 30 feet tall. It doesn't -- it's not just one wave that happens, but generally a series of waves that can occur, anywhere from five minutes to 90 minutes apart.
O'BRIEN: Now bore. Explain that term for us, what happens as it comes to shore.
SIDNEY: Well, there is a type of...
O'BRIEN: Not boring you, but bore, this is a bore effect they talk about.
SIDNEY: That's correct. It's something that you've probably heard of, the high tide called the bore tide. And that's whenever the ocean comes into an area where the -- the, let's say a harbor where you've got a compression of the energy as it comes through.
In other words, you've got a big large air of water trying to go through a little space, like a river or like an estuary. The water becomes very turbulent and creates what we call a bore tide.
That's sometimes what happens in these tsunamis. That's what happened in Sumatra.
O'BRIEN: So the energy kind of gets funneled into a specific area. And then you get these tremendous waves...
SIDNEY: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: ... which cause this tremendous damage.
SIDNEY: They're faster. They're higher and they're more turbulent. And they cause -- the damage that we've seen today.
And again, not just one but a series of them. Imagine the first one comes in, picks up cars, houses, roofs. The second one takes all that debris and slams it back into the coast again. So it's like a battering ram on the coast.
O'BRIEN: Listening to John Austin, when he said, you know, he finally gets out and then this, wham, a second hit. And he thought, oh, my gosh, a second near-death experience in that short period of time. That's got to be startling.
Let's look at what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has put together for this specific event. And as you look at that, what you're -- this is -- sort of shows as if -- as a matter of fact, tsunamis can be formed by meteorites hitting the ocean.
SIDNEY: That's right.
O'BRIEN: Just like dropping a rock into a pond, only in this case it's coming from below, right?
SIDNEY: That's exactly right. Any disturbance in the ocean floor, a landslide, a volcanic eruption, earthquakes, as we've seen, and meteor strikes can create tsunami. In fact, tsunami have been very dangerous in some parts of the world.
Sumatra has this little trench here. It's called the Java Trench. And there's a lot of earthquakes along this. And this is an area that has seen tsunamis in the past.
O'BRIEN: Wow. So that gives you a sense. And really, there is no safe place for very long distances, given the size of these things. SIDNEY: That's true. As a matter of fact, Miles, you know, this is Somalia here. And we've had reports of up to 11 people dead in Somalia. So not only did the wave travel past southern India and Sri Lanka, but it may have actually affected people as far as way as Somalia.
O'BRIEN: OK. Orelon Sidney, thanks you very much. Appreciate it. We'll check in with you a little bit later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The roof was ripped off of my cottage and my friend and I were taken out to sea.
O'BRIEN: ... a tsunami survivor best known for his appearances on the Oprah Winfrey show shares his harrowing story.
Later on LIVE FROM, as bad as it is, the worst may not be over for victims of the devastating tsunami. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the potential health hazards.
Tomorrow on LIVE FROM, the woman accused of killing a pregnant woman and stealing her baby expected to appear in federal court. We'll have the latest on the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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Aired December 27, 2004 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's coming again! Coming again! Back up!
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MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Without warning, walls of water slam ashore, killing thousands of people. We're live from areas devastated by a huge tsunami.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People were just running. And you saw some people flying back into the sea as well.
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BETTY NGUYEN, CO-HOST: Eyewitnesses to the destruction: survivors share their amazing stories of living through what's being called one of the worst natural disasters ever.
Coping with the crisis: thousands of people without food water and shelter. This hour, the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis and what is being done to help.
Plus, could it happen in the U.S.? We will take you inside tsunamis, how they're formed what sort of warning systems are in place on the Pacific coast.
From the CNN center here in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen in for Kyra Phillips.
O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
NGUYEN: Death came from the sea, says one Indian survivor of cataclysmic tsunamis. What did they do to deserve this? This is one of the worst natural disasters ever in the words of the U.N. emergency relief coordinator. Almost 22,000 known dead. Thousands more missing in wake of gigantic unstoppable waves born of an undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean. The quake itself was the strongest in decades.
We have coverage throughout the region beginning with this report from CNN's Heidi Collins.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HEIDI COLLINS, CO-ANCHOR (voice-over): An earthquake of epic proportions triggered powerful tsunamis across southeast Asia. The initial quake, measuring 9.0 in magnitude, hit about 100 miles off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island early Sunday morning.
The quake is the strongest in 40 years and fourth largest in recorded history.
Indonesia, India, and Sri Lanka were hardest hit as tsunami waves 30 feet high slammed ashore without warning, gargantuan walls of water engulfing entire coastal communities.
WALTER HAYES, SEISMOLOGIST: We had a sudden uplift of the ocean floor. That water has to go somewhere, and it's about 200 or 300 miles of -- involved, and that water rushes into shore with a speed of 300 or 400 miles per hour. There's no way to get out of the way without warning. And this one was too close to the shore to have adequate warning.
COLLINS: In Indonesia, many of the victims were in Aceh, in northern Sumatra. Flood waters surges more than six miles inland, leaving bodies in the treetops.
The low-lying area of Sri Lanka were defenseless against the tsunami. Thousands died there. Thousands more are missing.
In Thailand, 30-foot waves washed ashore in the resort area of Phuket. One survivor was in his boat when it hit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we were lucky, because just to the left of us was another small beach that was actually the Sampai (ph) Bay. And he just turned left and went straight for the beach. And we were wondering, why is he doing this? And we looked back, like back of us and we saw this wave about five feet high coming straight at us.
And so we were just lucky. We -- the boat just went straight for the beach and then, when it hit the sand, we all just jumped out and started running to the beach. We were lucky, because the beach actually went uphill. It was a bit steep. And so we kept running up the hill. And then we just saw the boat get crushed.
COLLINS: The massive waves swamped more than 1,200 miles of India's southern coastline, washing away villages, and it's feared, thousands of fishermen who were out at sea.
MANMOHAN SINGH, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER: My heart goes out in sympathy to all those families who have lost their dear ones due to this tragedy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stand by, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia suffered, by far, the biggest loss of life in this horrific disaster, the scope of which will take days just merely to comprehend. So says the International Red Cross, which lists food, shelter, first aid and linking up families as the immediate top priorities.
We'll get more on the story from CNN's Satinder Bindra, who's in Sri Lanka.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sri Lanka is bearing the brunt of this tragedy. As you mentioned, more than 10,000 people have been killed here. A million people have been displaced, and some 250,000 people are homeless.
The homeless are streaming into shelters like this one where I am. One and a half thousand people have now taken shelter here in this Catholic church. And this center is symbolic of what is going on elsewhere in the country, too, where thousands of such shelters are coming up.
People are being fed. They're being clothed in these shelters, and ordinary citizens, ordinary Sri Lankans are coming in with donations of money, with donations of food.
(on camera) Meanwhile, a now massive relief operation has been launched after Sri Lanka was hit by two massive tidal waves just yesterday. Today I noticed at the airport some dozens of western tourists. They were injured. Many of them were emotionally quite shattered. And they'd been brought into Colombo airport from far- flung areas in this country.
(voice-over) Also, we noticed later on the bodies of dead people from across the country are being brought in to Colombo, and they are being handed over to relatives.
So this operation continues, and officials are already warning us that even after numbers of dead have climbed, this number could go up possibly even higher over the next 24 to 48 hours.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And as if the death and devastation weren't bad enough, disease will soon be a major complication. Health officials fear sudden outbreak of malaria and diarrhea from contaminated water and respiratory tract infections, as well.
The Red Cross and Red Crescent are flying in medicine, but they desperately need donations of money, goods and services. We'll take a look at how you can help a little bit later this hour.
The killer waves, while they didn't spare exclusive resorts in southern Thailand, where witnesses described tourists drowning inside their hotel rooms. In recent hours, the known death toll has doubled in and around Phuket, and CNN's Aneesh Raman is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're on the west coast of the island, the part that got the hardest destruction. It was the closest to the epicenter of this earthquake. The death toll today more than doubling. It now stands at close to 900. All expectations are that it will rise past 1,000.
The reason for the dramatic jump: as of last night, we were told, some 400 to 600 people were still lost out in the ocean. Rescue efforts were ongoing to try and get anyone who was still alive. But beginning today, bodies began washing ashore. They are continuing to do so tonight.
So it is likely, as I say, that number will go up.
Here on Phuket Island, the death toll, 130 people presumed dead. To the east of us on Phi Phi Island, the most severe destruction in terms of structural damage, the entire island basically wiped out. One official saying a clean sweep by the waves in taking out every building there.
And further on the actual coastline of mainland Thailand in the south, the resort area of Pung Na (ph) there, over 500 people now presumed dead.
In one sense, compared to the other areas that have been affected by these tsunami waves, Thailand is lucky. The infrastructure here on Phuket remains largely intact. No severe structural damage. So shelter remains, hospitals remain. Water is still, for the most part, getting to the areas it needs to.
In terms, though, of the Thais themselves, many of them would have been on the coastal areas. And there you saw the entire piers taken down by these -- by these huge waves. And so getting them relocated, basically, at this point, is all that the Thai government can do. A lot of them have to just literally rebuild their lives.
So really two constituencies for this government in this unprecedented catastrophe, trying to get the tourists the help they need and get them home, and trying to get the people that are Thai to get their lives started again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: All throughout this morning we've been hearing amazing tales of survival. Joining us on the line right now is John Austin, who was vacationing in Phuket. He is on the line with us now.
John, can you hear us?
JOHN AUSTIN, SURVIVOR: Yes, I'm here.
O'BRIEN: All right. Tell us what you saw and what you heard.
AUSTIN: Well, what I saw and what I heard. Well, I was in my hotel room, staying at the Atika Botik Hotel (ph). I was here last year with my cousin. We meet up for a vacation every year. And I was on the first floor this time. It was the only room they had left, right in front of the pool. And it was in the morning. I can't remember what time. I actually had some breakfast after a long night out and rolled over listening to the Discovery Channel. It was some show about Hitler, how he survived 27 deaths. And I turned over, put it on sleep timer.
And within a couple of minutes or so I started to go into slumber and I heard the -- this -- the glass patio doors just busting open with -- and I knew it is -- I mean I've been around boats and water most of my life in the Caribbean and in St. Lawrence. And I have a boat right in Montreal, and I've been through many experiences. But this was just ridiculous.
The water entered into the room, and I swung out of bed and got into the corridor towards where the door was. Otherwise, I would have been dead against the wall where the bed is. And I got to the front door. And then the water, of course, was behind me and in a matter in seconds.
And I took the latch off, but of course the door opens inwards. And -- and I had water -- I looked around, and I had the TV, the bureau, the cabinets, the dressers, the -- all the closet stuff and some metal thing which must have been the wall safe behind me, and I was pinned and trapped in there.
And of course, within seconds the water was over my head, to the roof. And I was thinking, this -- this just can't be. I mean, you panic, you perish. But I had know control over this.
Normally -- you know I've seen a lot -- I've been through hurricanes and many tornadoes, and very foul, bad weather here and very many places. But I mean, this is -- you're powerless. And cubic feet of water, I mean a 300 square foot room, I mean, water weighs eight pounds a gallon, imagine what -- I'm a scuba diver, as well. I mean, I could have used a regulator at that point and some oxygen and an anchor, a ship's anchor. But this is ridiculous.
But finally, I was holding my breath and visions of death. I mean, I was powerless. Don't like to be in that position, of course. The door blew open at one point. I guess it was made have had plywood. Had it been a fire door, that would be the end of that. And I went through like a rocket, a torpedo, and flew over. And then I must have hit the railing outside my door, over the concrete pillar, because I was just smashed.
And then all this water, which was the whole roof and plus the pool behind. And my patio door was right in front of the pool. And I was just making sport with the owner the night before how you, know, could I -- that evening before, we had a party and he was there, could I go for a swim at 5 in the morning if I get back?
He says, yes, if you don't make any noise, no problem. And so the whole pool, I mean, was right in front of my window. The other apartments next to me were either protected by the restaurant, served as a breakwater, or the reception.
And so I was virtually in one room or maybe there is another one. And the people next door I found out later on weren't in the room.
But I mean, all this furniture and water just propelled me about 20 yards onto the other side where there's another hotel. And I was pinned up against some -- I don't know -- some concrete or whatever it was. And my both arms, torso, both legs were pinned. And all this water and all this furniture from all the rooms.
I mean I -- I'm a fighter and a survivor, but this is -- I mean, this is just -- just takes the cake. I mean, there's just no control. And of course, you know, the second time I'm pinned, and the water is way over my head. And I must have been there for -- I don't know how long. It seemed like an eternity. But maybe a minute? Two minutes? I don't know.
But I at some point, I tried everything within my power to fight to get loose, to free myself. With all the force of the water and the debris and so forth. I mean my lungs filled with water, and I -- visions and thoughts going through, is this all -- is this how I'm going to be found? Is this how I leave this earth?
And then I just gave it one last -- I pulled on my right arm and, somehow, it came free. And I twisted like a centrifugal force sort of thing, like a spiral, and by doing that I freed one leg. And all of a sudden the other arm. I just kept turning, and I came to the surface.
And as I came to the surface, the water, I grabbed on to the top --the second banister out of a railing of the walkway, and then I was being strewn like a torrential river with all this -- this power of this water and everything, and I grab on to the rung holding, you know, supporting the two banisters. And hung on.
And I guess all the water went inland, and -- and I was able to hang on just for about 30 seconds or a minute. I don't know how long it was. This stuff happened so fast, of course.
But the water did subside. It went down. I suppose the water, after leaving all these rooms and so forth, went inland, or wherever. And I was on top of this railing with no more strength to hold on.
And thank God -- and then I -- when I surfaced, I'd seen this guy lying naked on -- some distance away, and he saw me come out of the water. And I saw his eyes and he saw mine. And I mean, I was just shell-shocked. Couldn't say or do anything for some time.
I'm a very happy man to be alive.
O'BRIEN: John, that is truly a remarkable story.
AUSTIN: I lost all my belongings, but that doesn't matter. I mean, if you panic, you perish. But this is ridiculous. I mean you have no control over this.
And I suspect the authorities and everybody have done a miraculous job of -- of efficiency. I'm been to the Caribbean and something like this would just be total chaos. But they've done a marvelous job. But I suspect that the casualty total is a lot higher, because if I escaped that, I suspect a lot of people wouldn't have been able to.
O'BRIEN: Do you have any idea how long -- do you have any idea how long you were trapped under water?
AUSTIN: Well, at the room -- you know, it's hard to say. The room filled up and right to the ceiling. It didn't take very long. It seemed like an eternity, of course. But you know, Miles, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe it was 45 seconds. Maybe it was a minute.
And then the thing blew open finally and then the worst part about it was the second near-death experience when I was trapped. That was much worse on the other side. Now that must have been for a couple of minutes, because I mean, I'm a diver, and I -- scuba dive various parts of the world and I've been in the water all my life. So that's not really a problem. I know not to panic; if you panic you perish.
But I fought with every ounce of strength. And it just must have been the good Lord saying it wasn't my time or...
O'BRIEN: Somebody -- somebody was looking out for you, John Austin. I think somebody was, or something.
AUSTIN: Well, whoever it is, please send the message. Because I am -- I've lost all -- pretty much all of my belongings and so forth. But that doesn't matter. I'm pretty banged up.
And I -- I just fear for a lot of the other people. I don't think -- I think it's a lot worse than it is reported at this point.
O'BRIEN: John Austin, who was vacationing in Phuket, Thailand, normally of Montreal, Canada, with a truly remarkable story.
Orelon Sidney, it's hard to follow that with the mundane issues of how these things form, but let's talk about that. That is truly amazing, hearing that story.
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's amazing, and I'm not surprised, to be honest.
O'BRIEN: Well, and given what we know about these events, and the speed that they move at, we're talking about, you know, like airliner speeds. Right?
SIDNEY: Yes. Well, when they're out in the deep ocean, the deeper the water, the faster the waves travel. And so when they're out in the ocean they can travel hundreds of miles an hour.
As they get closer to land, they actually slow down and they come in at about 30 to 40 miles an hour. And then the waves that are normally stretched out start to compress, and that's why you have such high waves come in. One wave joins with another, pops up a little bit higher. Another wave comes in, a little bit higher.
So in this case, we've heard about -- I know of at least two waves that were, they say, about 30 feet tall that came in within minutes of each other.
O'BRIEN: And there's this effect call boring, where essentially that energy is kind of funneled into a harbor or whatever.
SIDNEY: Right, right.
O'BRIEN: Let's -- first of all, you know, before we get too far ahead, let's do tsunami 101.
SIDNEY: Geology 101.
O'BRIEN: Yes. And we've got a little animation which we've put together here. And we can roll that and we can sort of explain.
First of all, this is basically the earthquake event here. Right? That we're talking about?
SIDNEY: That's exactly right.
O'BRIEN: When one -- one piece of earth goes down, the other piece of earth goes up. Right?
SIDNEY: Right. And whenever you have any kind of vertical displacement in the sea floor, the water becomes disturbed. And then, as you can see in this animation, the wave goes out. In this case it's going this way. But the waves go out in all directions from that disturbance.
And this is actually what we call a subduction zone. Imagine that this is...
O'BRIEN: Right in here is the subduction zone.
SIDNEY: That's correct. Imagine that this is Sumatra here. This is the plate that dived beneath it.
O'BRIEN: Right. We've got to hold this thought for just a moment. We're going down to -- where are we going? We're going to Crawford, Texas, the president.
No?
TRENT DUFFY, DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: And the USAID briefed earlier today about all those efforts under way. As we said yesterday, the United States expresses its sincere condolences for the loss of life and suffering.
And we've been work since early yesterday morning to support American citizens who may have been affected in the region through the various embassies.
And with that, I will answer your questions.
Yes, Mark.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) number of letters from chiefs of state of nations. Do you have a list of those nations?
DUFFY: Yes. The president sent letters of condolence to leaders of the seven countries that were affected. I don't have that list handy, but we can get that for you. But the list of the seven countries that were affected mainly by the earthquake and the -- and the tsunamis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there any estimate of how much money we're going to be putting into this effort?
DUFFY: I think the State Department addressed some of that this afternoon. I mean, obviously the first thing that needs to be done is there needs to be an assessment of what can be done. There is some initial United States funds that are already flowing through the embassies. I think the dollar amounts are, you know, $400,000 at the early outgoing and then $4 million in the next few days.
But I would refer to you the State Department for more on the actual dollars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
DUFFY: That's something Secretary Powell addressed. He said that the Pacific fleet is going to look and see whether there is a role and what the role might be for the United States military.
I DID -- was able to check with the Pentagon as far as impact to the military from the earthquake and the tidal waves, and obviously keep in touch with the Pentagon. But as of now, we don't detect any large impact to the United States military at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is he going to make some phone calls as well or just going to write letters at this point?
DUFFY: All I have is the letters of condolences that he sent. We'll keep you updated on any other calls. As I said, the president spoke with Secretary Powell this morning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you just tell us, was he watching any of this? Has he seen images? Is he watching it on television?
DUFFY: He's been monitoring it very closely. He's seen some of the images on television, yes.
Deb?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there any anti-terrorism component to this? Is the administration concerned about -- that the terrorists might take advantage of this situation?
DUFFY: Well, the United States is always concerned about terrorist activity no matter what day it is and no what the matter what the events are. I mean, the president's most solemn obligation is to protect the American people.
And certainly, I mean, any time that there's events like this, the U.S. government will be working overtime to ensure that the American people are protected and the war on terrorism goes on.
So as far as any specific activities, obviously, we wouldn't get into any classified types of information. But the American people can rest assured that no matter what happens in the world, the government will do everything it can to protect the American people from terrorism.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the Sunni parties in Iraq said they would not participate in the election because of security concerns. Does this give rise to any concerns about the credibility or the legitimacy of the election if this party is not participating, if Sunnis don't participate?
DUFFY: Well, I think that Secretary Powell addressed this as well, but our interest is we want as broad a participation as possible in the Iraqi elections. And we're urging all parties to participate.
O'BRIEN: All right. That obviously not the president of the United States. That's Trent Duffy, one of his spokesmen, Crawford, Texas, giving us a little rundown of what the United States is doing in the way of relief for this terrible tragedy in and around the Indian Ocean.
We'll be back. We'll continue with Orelon Sidney, and we have much more coverage for you after a brief break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: This just in to CNN. The Arabic language network Al Jazeera is broadcasting today an audiotape which is claiming to be from Osama bin Laden. We do not know the contents of this tape or the authenticity of this tape, but we are trying to verify all of this.
But again, Al Jazeera is broadcasting an audiotape reportedly from Osama bin Laden today. We, of course, will continue to follow this.
Also, the latest attack on Iraqi politicians and politics in general killed at least six people today and wounded more than 30 in the capital. It was yet another suicide car bombing, this time outside the headquarters of the nation's largest political party, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Its leader is a top Shiite candidate in next month's elections. He was home when the blast went off and is not hurt.
A major Sunni organization says it will sit the elections out, citing vague electoral procedures and especially a lack of security. Over the weekend, a high-ranking member of the Iraqi Nation Party and the founder of Iraq's Women and Democracy Foundation were gunned down near their homes in Baghdad -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: The numbers are just staggering: more than 22,000 dead now. And of course, still trying to figure out the scope of all of this.
Helping us understand at least the natural aspects of it, what the earth was doing, what the earth is all about when it is creating these earthquakes and tsunamis, Orelon Sidney.
We were interrupted, so let's start from the top, if you will. And we'll call this tsunami 101. Essentially what we're talking about is having an earthquake at the bottom of the sea.
Let's roll the animation. And why don't you explain what's going on there?
SIDNEY: Well, what's happening here is the technical term is called subduction. And that is one tectonic plate, this one, is riding beneath another plate, this one. This plate is the one that has Sumatra on it, this one here, because the continental plates are lighter than the oceanic plates.
Whenever you have a disturbance like this, the ocean is going to have to respond. And so what we'll see...
O'BRIEN: Sending energy upward, in other words.
SIDNEY: Exactly. What we'll see as this goes on, now the waves come out, and they go out in all directions from this particular.
O'BRIEN: One that way and that way. But were we're getting a little depiction. That makes it seem kind of small. But what we're talking about are walls of water here, right?
SIDNEY: Actually on the open ocean, they're extremely small.
O'BRIEN: Oh, they are? Really?
SIDNEY: You can hardly detect them if you're in a boat or in a dinghy or something, you wouldn't even know it.
O'BRIEN: Because it's so deep, right?
SIDNEY: Because it's so deep. As we go on towards the shore, the waves begin to compress.
O'BRIEN: Look at that next graphic, because that actually shows what you were talking about there. The waves kind of compress.
SIDNEY: They compress, and they catch up with each other.
O'BRIEN: Right.
SIDNEY: And they start to increase in size. And then they slam on to the coast, as we've heard, with waves up o 30 feet tall. It doesn't -- it's not just one wave that happens, but generally a series of waves that can occur, anywhere from five minutes to 90 minutes apart.
O'BRIEN: Now bore. Explain that term for us, what happens as it comes to shore.
SIDNEY: Well, there is a type of...
O'BRIEN: Not boring you, but bore, this is a bore effect they talk about.
SIDNEY: That's correct. It's something that you've probably heard of, the high tide called the bore tide. And that's whenever the ocean comes into an area where the -- the, let's say a harbor where you've got a compression of the energy as it comes through.
In other words, you've got a big large air of water trying to go through a little space, like a river or like an estuary. The water becomes very turbulent and creates what we call a bore tide.
That's sometimes what happens in these tsunamis. That's what happened in Sumatra.
O'BRIEN: So the energy kind of gets funneled into a specific area. And then you get these tremendous waves...
SIDNEY: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: ... which cause this tremendous damage.
SIDNEY: They're faster. They're higher and they're more turbulent. And they cause -- the damage that we've seen today.
And again, not just one but a series of them. Imagine the first one comes in, picks up cars, houses, roofs. The second one takes all that debris and slams it back into the coast again. So it's like a battering ram on the coast.
O'BRIEN: Listening to John Austin, when he said, you know, he finally gets out and then this, wham, a second hit. And he thought, oh, my gosh, a second near-death experience in that short period of time. That's got to be startling.
Let's look at what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has put together for this specific event. And as you look at that, what you're -- this is -- sort of shows as if -- as a matter of fact, tsunamis can be formed by meteorites hitting the ocean.
SIDNEY: That's right.
O'BRIEN: Just like dropping a rock into a pond, only in this case it's coming from below, right?
SIDNEY: That's exactly right. Any disturbance in the ocean floor, a landslide, a volcanic eruption, earthquakes, as we've seen, and meteor strikes can create tsunami. In fact, tsunami have been very dangerous in some parts of the world.
Sumatra has this little trench here. It's called the Java Trench. And there's a lot of earthquakes along this. And this is an area that has seen tsunamis in the past.
O'BRIEN: Wow. So that gives you a sense. And really, there is no safe place for very long distances, given the size of these things. SIDNEY: That's true. As a matter of fact, Miles, you know, this is Somalia here. And we've had reports of up to 11 people dead in Somalia. So not only did the wave travel past southern India and Sri Lanka, but it may have actually affected people as far as way as Somalia.
O'BRIEN: OK. Orelon Sidney, thanks you very much. Appreciate it. We'll check in with you a little bit later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The roof was ripped off of my cottage and my friend and I were taken out to sea.
O'BRIEN: ... a tsunami survivor best known for his appearances on the Oprah Winfrey show shares his harrowing story.
Later on LIVE FROM, as bad as it is, the worst may not be over for victims of the devastating tsunami. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the potential health hazards.
Tomorrow on LIVE FROM, the woman accused of killing a pregnant woman and stealing her baby expected to appear in federal court. We'll have the latest on the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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