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Tsunami Hits Shore; More Troops to Mosul
Aired December 27, 2004 - 14:00 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 FEMALE: How high's it going to go? OK, I'm getting frightened now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Tsunami caught on tape, home video of a devastating disaster. Huge walls of water sweep ashore. We are live this hour from areas hit hard by killer tsunamis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People started screaming, and there were these massive waves that were sort of crashing. And then we just ran. And I ran up into the hills.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Surviving the tsunami. Just ahead, you'll hear from some of the people who lived to tell about it. What a story.
NGUYEN: Helping the hurting. Hospitals in the path of the tsunamis are overwhelmed, and it could get worse before it gets better. Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the medical issues ahead.
O'BRIEN: And waiting for word from home. Families in the United States anxiously hoping to hear from loved ones in those devastated areas.
NGUYEN: From the CNN Center here in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Kyra Phillips today.
O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now.
NGUYEN: The ocean floor rumbles and villages, islands, lives are obliterated hundreds of miles away. It's a disaster of almost incomprehensible proportions, beginning with the strongest earthquake in 40 years six miles under the Indian Ocean, off the western coast of Indonesia.
Some 40 hours later, the world is still scrambling to respond to unmitigated tragedy. Tsunamis three stories high hitting defenseless, densely-populated coastlines at hundreds of miles an hour. More than 22,000 people are dead, with hundreds of thousands more left homeless. The precipitating earthquake had a magnitude of 9.0, the biggest since 1964. Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka were hit the hardest, though hundreds died in Thailand as well. And officials in the Maldives fear some islands may have literally disappeared.
Now, among disaster areas in Thailand are the exclusive resorts of Phuket Island, known and loved by vacationers around the world. Correspondent John Irvine of Britain's Independent Television News was himself on holiday when the tsunami struck. Here is his remarkable account, along with that of fellow survivor Will Geddes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa! Hey! It's coming again! It's coming again!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Big one!
JOHN IRVINE, ITN REPORTER (voice-over): I ran into our beachfront bungalow to look for a camera. I guess I spent a minute looking for it. I couldn't find it. I came back out again and the guy who runs the hotel was screaming at people to get off the beach.
I looked out to sea and I guess at this stage it was about 100 yards, maybe 200 yards off the beach, this -- this wall of water heading our way. And my wife screamed to me. She grabbed our daughter Elizabeth, and I looked frantically for my 5-year-old son Peter, and he was -- he was looking out to sea. He was mesmerized, hypnotized by the wall of water that was -- that was heading our way.
So I just sprinted for the boy and I grabbed him. And my wife yelled for me to get into the bungalow, but I knew that Peter and I wouldn't make it. So we headed at right angles from the wave and I just ran as hard as I could.
WILL GEDDES, TOURIST: Having stood in the water literally within two seconds from ankle height it came to shoulder height. You'd usually imagine a tidal wave is going to be much like you see in the movies, a big crescent wave. Waves that hit Phuket, and certainly from the reports I've had from other resorts, they all came in very hard and fast. It was a bit like watching a bath run to the top.
IRVINE: I looked behind and I could see the wall of water coming towards us. And eventually, when we were, I suppose 25, 50 yards from the beach, the wave caught up with myself and Peter and it washed us I guess another 50 yards into a mangrove swamp. We were very lucky not to be hit by all the debris that there was, the wave carried with it.
I mean, it was carrying small boats with it, it was carrying logs, masonry. It was a terrifying experience.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: The known death toll in southern India now tops 6,000, with thousands still unaccounted for. We get the latest from CNN's Suhasini Haidar. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUHASINI HAIDAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The bodies keep coming to this mortuary in the southern Indian city of Chennai. This woman just identified the bodies of three members of her family who died this morning.
"We had just woken up," she says. "Suddenly we heard a rumbling sound and saw the sea water rise." Nothing prepared them for what followed.
(on camera): Within moments, say residents, giant waves engulfed this entire beach area, killing dozens, flattening thousands of homes. The waves taking with them all their belongings.
(voice-over): Across the southeast Indian coastline, the waves wreaked havoc, washing away villages. Thousands have drowned. Thousands more, many of them fisherman, are missing at sea.
Officials say they're also worried about islands off the Indian coastline where communication links have snapped. The Indian government says it has launched search operations to rescue people stranded and are air-dropping food and medicines over places that are inundated.
The government must now cope with thousands made homeless in a matter of minutes. Numb with grief, Mohammed Dehali (ph) looks amongst the remains of his home for anything he can salvage. He finds a ground mat, but his loss, he says, is too great to bear.
"My 5-year-old son is gone," he says. "I ran for my life and survived the wave. Now I can't find him."
For other survivors, grief is mixed with panic and fear. They say they can't rest easy even as whether officials here warn there could be another round of killer tsunamis.
Suhasini Haidar, CNN, Chennai, south India.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Thousands of Britons enjoying their holiday in southeast Asia had no idea their time of relaxation would become such a horrifying ordeal. Almost a dozen British citizens have been killed and many more are feared dead. CNN's Paula Hancocks is live from London with more on this -- Paula.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, there's some very raw emotion here at Heathrow this evening. A flight from Colombo, Sri Lanka, has just arrived.
Many relatives have been very nervously awaiting the arrival of their loved ones. Some I was speaking to a little earlier on telling me it took about six or seven hours before they could discover whether or not their loved ones were safe. They say they've lost their passports, they've lost their belongings, but they don't care. They are safe.
Many of them do have injuries from flying glass, as they were in resorts and in hotels when the wall of water did hit them. Also, we've had many British tourists coming home earlier this morning. We've had a flight from Colombo and a flight from Bangkok.
Visibly shattered some of these people that were coming off the plane, and visibly moved by what not only they had experienced, but also what they had seen. Many saying they could see people being dragged out to sea but could do nothing about it.
Now, many flights to the region have been canceled. Package holidays have been canceled for the next three days at least. They're going to review that later in the week. The focus, the U.K. government says, is to make sure that holiday makers are going to get back safely.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS (voice-over): The first tourists arrived back in Britain on Monday from holidays in southeast Asia that turned to tragedy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This torrent of muddy water just came down the steps and through the doors and washed me away into a playroom, and glass doors were smashed by the water. And I just couldn't keep my footing. I was very frightened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) sort of swept the whole road along the beach, flooded it completely. It took trees out, everything. It took cars, motor bikes out.
HANCOCKS: Empty charter planes are being flown to Sri Lanka and the Maldives to fly tourists back to Britain. More than 10,000 Britains are thought to have been on holiday in the area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First you get to Bangkok, they can then arrange for emergency passports and travel documents that will get you back to the U.K.
HANCOCKS: Meanwhile, international aid agencies are calling for donations. After the initial devastation, the threat of disease and dehydration are now priorities.
BRENDAN COX, OXFAM: I was talking to somebody in Thailand yesterday who hadn't -- yesterday evening who hadn't had a drink all day because there was no clean water. Now, you know, the bitter irony of flooding, the water causes this, vast (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of water, and then the scarcity of water is the following problem. So we're really trying to focus on water at the moment.
HANCOCKS: OXFAM has sent 1,000-liter tanker truckloads of water to the worst hit areas of Sri Lanka to try and easy the immediate shortage. The aid organization is also preparing 25,000 food packs and 10,000 packets containing items and candles for the same destination.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Sri Lanka, there's -- you know, the infrastructure is not there for rescue. And people are just running. And you saw some people flying back into the sea as well.
HANCOCKS: The British government says it will send rescue teams to the region to aid in search and rescue operations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS: Now, the latest figures we do have from the U.K. Foreign Office is 11 British people have died in this tragedy. But the U.K. foreign secretary, Jack Straw, says that number will rise. He says there are many Brits that are holidaying at the moment in remote, inaccessible places. Southeast Asia being a very popular place for British tourists, especially at this time of year -- Betty.
NGUYEN: OK, Paula, for those still missing, family members searching for those still missing, is there some kind of communication system set up that they can try to find their loved ones?
HANCOCKS: Well, the U.K. Foreign Office has given a hotline number for people to be phoning. Many people though have said that they tried on Sunday for hours at a time. Some saying seven, eight hours to try and find information.
And the problem is, as well, that communication is so bad in southeast Asia at the moment that it's very difficult for the Foreign Office itself to be able to get information to these people. Many relatives I've been speaking to say that they only discovered that their loved ones were safe by a random text message from a mobile phone whose number they didn't recognize, just saying, "I'm alive."
Not knowing much more, not knowing when they're coming home, but just knowing the basic facts so that they could stop worrying to a certain extent. So communication between the U.K. Foreign Office and the main consuls in southeast Asia is also quite shaky at the moment -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. A lot of families still waiting. CNN's Paula Hancocks in London for us. Thank you, Paula -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: The earthquake that triggered the deadly tsunamis was the fourth strongest quake in history -- recorded history, that is. It was also the strongest in 40 years.
On March 28, 1964, a magnitude 9.2 earthquake hit Alaska. It was good Friday. The walls of this five-story building in Anchorage crashed to the street after the quake.
The quake triggered a tsunami that destroyed much of the Alaska coast, including oil tanks and three villages entirely. The tsunami raged along the West Coast, killing 107 people in Alaska, four in Oregon and 11 in California.
NGUYEN: In other news, another audiotape has surfaced from a man claiming to be Osama bin Laden. It was aired by the Arabic language network Al Jazeera.
Now, on the tape the speaker reportedly calls for Iraqis to boycott next month's elections, and he also refers to terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq. The tape has yet to be authenticated. Our terrorism analyst Peter Bergen will join us later this hour with more on this message.
O'BRIEN: A tragedy thousands of miles away hitting closes to home for many in the U.S. Just ahead, those waiting and worrying about loved ones in the path of those tsunamis. And trying to get home for the holidays proved to be impossible for some folks stranded at airports across America. Ahead, a travel expert has some advice for those left out in the cold.
And speaking of cold, snow and ice make it hazardous going for Americans trying to travel by car.
We'll have details on all those stories ahead on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: The latest total on deaths from the disastrous wave of tsunamis, more than 22,000 people, mostly in countries that ring the Indian Ocean. The numbers are likely to change. And what we give you here is the best we can do at the moment.
In Sri Lanka alone, the death toll today has topped 10,000 people. Now, Chicago interior designer Nate Berkus was asleep in a beachfront cottage on Sri Lanka's eastern coast when the tsunami hit. You might recognize him from his frequent appearances on the "Oprah Winfrey Show." Berkus paints a horrifying picture of the moment of impact and the overwhelming devastation in the aftermath.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATE BERKUS, SURVIVOR: We were completely devastated yesterday morning around 9:00 in the morning. We desperately, desperately need help from the government here. We're without water; we're without food, and many of us are injured. There are women and children who are - there's a pregnant woman with broken ribs.
We've - the - the Sri Lankan army seems to only have very few helicopters here that have touched down and taken away very few of the injured people. We've all been sleeping in a field throughout the night, and right now I believe it's about 4 in the morning here.
I'm with about a group of 50 tourists as well as many locals. And it's just been utter devastation. Bodies everywhere. And just really, absolutely horrible, horrible devastation.
There was absolutely no warning. I was asleep in a beachfront cottage. I heard a loud noise. All of a sudden, the roof was ripped off of the cottage, and my friend and I were taken out to sea - just taken in currents that were so strong with debris and cars and animals and people (UNINTELLIGIBLE) by.
We were able to hang on to a telephone pole with a mattress wedged between us for literally 30 seconds. There was a calm in the storm, and then another wave hit. Both of us were torn from the - from the phone pole.
I finally climbed down to a roof of a home -- because the water pushed me behind the home - and sat out the rest of the waves on top of this structure, which luckily held. But many people have died. There are - a lot of us are injured here. I'm very scraped up, but luckily I'm OK. And I'm still missing my friend.
Really, against that kind of force of nature, there was nothing any of us could do. There were definitely people helping one another in the - in the aftermath, helping to reunite families and helping to understand exactly what was going on. But the bottom line is, we desperately need help here and we need it first thing, as soon as the sun comes up here, which is in a couple of hours. I understand the American government has something under way. I hope that that's true, because we are really very desperate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: We are hearing so many chilling stories today. And our colleagues at cnn.com are offering an online special report on the tsunami disaster.
The report includes firsthand accounts from witnesses sent to us by e-mail. Here's one viewer's story.
This person writes, "My father, Ray De Silva (ph), witnessed a tsunami in Sri Lanka. He and his brother were going to buy fish from a fisherman near the sea."
"Now, on his way, he noticed that the sea had become still and was starting to go inwards. He knew something was wrong but never expected this disaster. It was a warm day with brilliant sunshine."
"He said that people were curious and most of the children had wandered into the sea to see what was happening. Then suddenly people were screaming and running towards land. My father braked as people were screaming at him to stop."
"He looked up and saw that the sea was coming towards him. It was a huge tidal wave. He yanked the door open, followed by his brother. He saw a man being knocked down by the wave in front of him."
"He started running. The wave hit them but he kept on running. He lost his sandals and was barefoot. All he could see was his new Hyundai Sonata being lifted 50 feet and being hurled into a wall, smashing it."
He ran about 14 kilometers until he reached dry land. His car still remains near the sea. He was terribly shaken but safe."
And that's from Sharon De Silva (ph) from Racine, Wisconsin.
The CNN.com special report is online. You can find it at CNN.com/specials/2004/tsunami.disaster. And you can send some e-mails there as well -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. And you just go to the main page as well, and there are some hot links to it if you like.
In this country and around the world, people with friends and family in the Asian disaster zone are desperately searching for word about their loved ones. CNN's Miguel Marquez spoke with two people in Los Angeles with family ties to Sri Lanka.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anhangama Dhammarama is a Buddhist monk. He has meditated in Los Angeles for 26 years. But now the devastation that has swept across his home country of Sri Lanka has the 79-year-old monk thinking about home.
AHANGAMA DHAMMARAMA, LOS ANGELES BUDDHIST TEMPLE: My brothers, sometimes I have some bad feelings. What happened to my brother?
MARQUEZ: Dhammarama's brother and nephew live in Ahangama, a city of 50,000 people on Sri Lanka's southern coast. They live a short walk away from the ocean.
DHAMMARAMA: I tried to call them. Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything. Like 6:00 until 11:00, I try, try, try. I couldn't do that.
MARQUEZ: Walter Jiawarhana (ph) is the LA correspondent for Sri Lanka's biggest daily newspaper.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From eastern province to southern province to western -- western coast, there is one story of disaster.
MARQUEZ: Jiawarhana (ph) says his country is effectively crippled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All their communication systems are gone. Roads are gone. The railways are gone. Schools are gone. Churches are gone. Everything is gone.
DHAMMARAMA: This is my -- my father. This is my mother. These are my brothers.
MARQUEZ: Dhammarama was in his home town last February. His brother built a library for the local high school. The school is 40 feet from the beach. Dhamaramma looks at pictures of the opening celebrations and wonders, is anything left?
DHAMMARAMA: People are very quiet, very peaceful people. Nothing there. Unfortunately, this one is first time. That's why I'm so upset about that.
MARQUEZ (on camera): Here in LA, the Sri Lankan, Indian and Indonesian communities are just beginning their efforts to find their families and assist their home countries. Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Much more to come in our coverage of the tsunami disaster. We'll hear more from survivors.
Plus, Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the latest on the emerging health problems in these disaster zones. That's coming up in about 10 minutes' time.
NGUYEN: Turning to Iraq now, insurgents trying to derail January elections target a major Shiite party headquarters. A suicide bomber today struck the Baghdad headquarters of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. At least six people were killed and 33 were wounded. The explosion missed the head of the Shiite party who was at home at the time of that attack.
Meanwhile, a major Sunni party today says it will not take part in elections, citing security concerns.
Well, you can expect more boots on the ground in Mosul very soon. That's what the head of the U.S. forces in that region has told our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. She went to Qatar for this story that you will see only on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As violence continues in the northern city of Mosul, and elections are just one month away in Iraq, General John Abizaid, the senior U.S. military commander in the region, has confirmed to CNN in an exclusive interview that troop levels in Mosul are about to go up. The U.S. is determined to ensure control of the city.
GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: It's clear that Mosul will need additional boots on the ground during the election period. We will figure out what the right combination of boots on the ground may be. Mosul is very important in all terms in Iraq.
STARR: Abizaid is emphasizing the additional troops in Mosul will include Iraqis and U.S. forces to be shifted from other areas inside the country. He spoke to CNN from his desert headquarters in Doha, Qatar.
ABIZAID: We will make additional adjustments of forces for Mosul.
STARR: The U.S. recently increased troop levels in Iraq to 150,000 so these types of pre-election problems could be dealt with. Ensuring Sunnis in Mosul feel secure enough to vote is crucial. The suicide bombing at the U.S. military base only underscored the problem, officials say.
But now it could require another 6,000 to 8,000 total troops to be sent to Mosul. Senior U.S. military sources in the region tell CNN the city has been racked by violence for weeks. Local Iraqi security forces have virtually melted away, say those officials. One senior U.S. officer tells CNN, "We have no Iraqi police force up in Mosul today."
The problem in getting Iraqis to fight the insurgency may be deeper across Iraq. The military assessment now is that the U.S. miscalculated Iraqi tribal and religious loyalties and did not realize Iraqis are likely to fight only for their brethren.
Thousands of Iraqi security forces have been put in the field. But the focus has been on numbers of troops, training and equipment, not on experience, confidence and leadership. So in cases like Mosul, they simply will not fight the intimidation of the insurgents, the U.S. now believes.
The solution now? The U.S. is planing to put 10 to 20-man training teams with individual Iraqi units across the country after the January election. The hope is this type of local on-the-ground effort will make Iraqi forces more willing to fight.
Barbara Starr, CNN, Doha, Qatar.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Safety in the snow. A winter storm tops our look at news "Across America" now.
Police are warning drivers to remain cautious today after a winter storm dumped as much as 14 inches of snow on parts of eastern Virginia. Sunday's storm mainly affected parts of the Hampton Roads and Tidewater regions.
And lost luggage. The Department of Transportation is looking into baggage problems involving US Airways. Over the holiday, thousands of airline passengers were without luggage for days. US Airways blamed a record number of employee sick-outs for the problem. The airline was forced to fill seven planes with just luggage.
O'BRIEN: Well, when you buy a car, you have your choice of different option packages. You can get stripped down, fully loaded, so on and so on.
NGUYEN: I kind of likes the fully loaded.
O'BRIEN: Do you?
NGUYEN: Although it costs a lot more. David Haffenreffer joins us now to talk about all of this.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired December 27, 2004 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How high's it going to go? OK, I'm getting frightened now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Tsunami caught on tape, home video of a devastating disaster. Huge walls of water sweep ashore. We are live this hour from areas hit hard by killer tsunamis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People started screaming, and there were these massive waves that were sort of crashing. And then we just ran. And I ran up into the hills.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Surviving the tsunami. Just ahead, you'll hear from some of the people who lived to tell about it. What a story.
NGUYEN: Helping the hurting. Hospitals in the path of the tsunamis are overwhelmed, and it could get worse before it gets better. Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the medical issues ahead.
O'BRIEN: And waiting for word from home. Families in the United States anxiously hoping to hear from loved ones in those devastated areas.
NGUYEN: From the CNN Center here in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Kyra Phillips today.
O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now.
NGUYEN: The ocean floor rumbles and villages, islands, lives are obliterated hundreds of miles away. It's a disaster of almost incomprehensible proportions, beginning with the strongest earthquake in 40 years six miles under the Indian Ocean, off the western coast of Indonesia.
Some 40 hours later, the world is still scrambling to respond to unmitigated tragedy. Tsunamis three stories high hitting defenseless, densely-populated coastlines at hundreds of miles an hour. More than 22,000 people are dead, with hundreds of thousands more left homeless. The precipitating earthquake had a magnitude of 9.0, the biggest since 1964. Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka were hit the hardest, though hundreds died in Thailand as well. And officials in the Maldives fear some islands may have literally disappeared.
Now, among disaster areas in Thailand are the exclusive resorts of Phuket Island, known and loved by vacationers around the world. Correspondent John Irvine of Britain's Independent Television News was himself on holiday when the tsunami struck. Here is his remarkable account, along with that of fellow survivor Will Geddes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa! Hey! It's coming again! It's coming again!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Big one!
JOHN IRVINE, ITN REPORTER (voice-over): I ran into our beachfront bungalow to look for a camera. I guess I spent a minute looking for it. I couldn't find it. I came back out again and the guy who runs the hotel was screaming at people to get off the beach.
I looked out to sea and I guess at this stage it was about 100 yards, maybe 200 yards off the beach, this -- this wall of water heading our way. And my wife screamed to me. She grabbed our daughter Elizabeth, and I looked frantically for my 5-year-old son Peter, and he was -- he was looking out to sea. He was mesmerized, hypnotized by the wall of water that was -- that was heading our way.
So I just sprinted for the boy and I grabbed him. And my wife yelled for me to get into the bungalow, but I knew that Peter and I wouldn't make it. So we headed at right angles from the wave and I just ran as hard as I could.
WILL GEDDES, TOURIST: Having stood in the water literally within two seconds from ankle height it came to shoulder height. You'd usually imagine a tidal wave is going to be much like you see in the movies, a big crescent wave. Waves that hit Phuket, and certainly from the reports I've had from other resorts, they all came in very hard and fast. It was a bit like watching a bath run to the top.
IRVINE: I looked behind and I could see the wall of water coming towards us. And eventually, when we were, I suppose 25, 50 yards from the beach, the wave caught up with myself and Peter and it washed us I guess another 50 yards into a mangrove swamp. We were very lucky not to be hit by all the debris that there was, the wave carried with it.
I mean, it was carrying small boats with it, it was carrying logs, masonry. It was a terrifying experience.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: The known death toll in southern India now tops 6,000, with thousands still unaccounted for. We get the latest from CNN's Suhasini Haidar. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUHASINI HAIDAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The bodies keep coming to this mortuary in the southern Indian city of Chennai. This woman just identified the bodies of three members of her family who died this morning.
"We had just woken up," she says. "Suddenly we heard a rumbling sound and saw the sea water rise." Nothing prepared them for what followed.
(on camera): Within moments, say residents, giant waves engulfed this entire beach area, killing dozens, flattening thousands of homes. The waves taking with them all their belongings.
(voice-over): Across the southeast Indian coastline, the waves wreaked havoc, washing away villages. Thousands have drowned. Thousands more, many of them fisherman, are missing at sea.
Officials say they're also worried about islands off the Indian coastline where communication links have snapped. The Indian government says it has launched search operations to rescue people stranded and are air-dropping food and medicines over places that are inundated.
The government must now cope with thousands made homeless in a matter of minutes. Numb with grief, Mohammed Dehali (ph) looks amongst the remains of his home for anything he can salvage. He finds a ground mat, but his loss, he says, is too great to bear.
"My 5-year-old son is gone," he says. "I ran for my life and survived the wave. Now I can't find him."
For other survivors, grief is mixed with panic and fear. They say they can't rest easy even as whether officials here warn there could be another round of killer tsunamis.
Suhasini Haidar, CNN, Chennai, south India.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Thousands of Britons enjoying their holiday in southeast Asia had no idea their time of relaxation would become such a horrifying ordeal. Almost a dozen British citizens have been killed and many more are feared dead. CNN's Paula Hancocks is live from London with more on this -- Paula.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, there's some very raw emotion here at Heathrow this evening. A flight from Colombo, Sri Lanka, has just arrived.
Many relatives have been very nervously awaiting the arrival of their loved ones. Some I was speaking to a little earlier on telling me it took about six or seven hours before they could discover whether or not their loved ones were safe. They say they've lost their passports, they've lost their belongings, but they don't care. They are safe.
Many of them do have injuries from flying glass, as they were in resorts and in hotels when the wall of water did hit them. Also, we've had many British tourists coming home earlier this morning. We've had a flight from Colombo and a flight from Bangkok.
Visibly shattered some of these people that were coming off the plane, and visibly moved by what not only they had experienced, but also what they had seen. Many saying they could see people being dragged out to sea but could do nothing about it.
Now, many flights to the region have been canceled. Package holidays have been canceled for the next three days at least. They're going to review that later in the week. The focus, the U.K. government says, is to make sure that holiday makers are going to get back safely.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS (voice-over): The first tourists arrived back in Britain on Monday from holidays in southeast Asia that turned to tragedy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This torrent of muddy water just came down the steps and through the doors and washed me away into a playroom, and glass doors were smashed by the water. And I just couldn't keep my footing. I was very frightened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) sort of swept the whole road along the beach, flooded it completely. It took trees out, everything. It took cars, motor bikes out.
HANCOCKS: Empty charter planes are being flown to Sri Lanka and the Maldives to fly tourists back to Britain. More than 10,000 Britains are thought to have been on holiday in the area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First you get to Bangkok, they can then arrange for emergency passports and travel documents that will get you back to the U.K.
HANCOCKS: Meanwhile, international aid agencies are calling for donations. After the initial devastation, the threat of disease and dehydration are now priorities.
BRENDAN COX, OXFAM: I was talking to somebody in Thailand yesterday who hadn't -- yesterday evening who hadn't had a drink all day because there was no clean water. Now, you know, the bitter irony of flooding, the water causes this, vast (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of water, and then the scarcity of water is the following problem. So we're really trying to focus on water at the moment.
HANCOCKS: OXFAM has sent 1,000-liter tanker truckloads of water to the worst hit areas of Sri Lanka to try and easy the immediate shortage. The aid organization is also preparing 25,000 food packs and 10,000 packets containing items and candles for the same destination.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Sri Lanka, there's -- you know, the infrastructure is not there for rescue. And people are just running. And you saw some people flying back into the sea as well.
HANCOCKS: The British government says it will send rescue teams to the region to aid in search and rescue operations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS: Now, the latest figures we do have from the U.K. Foreign Office is 11 British people have died in this tragedy. But the U.K. foreign secretary, Jack Straw, says that number will rise. He says there are many Brits that are holidaying at the moment in remote, inaccessible places. Southeast Asia being a very popular place for British tourists, especially at this time of year -- Betty.
NGUYEN: OK, Paula, for those still missing, family members searching for those still missing, is there some kind of communication system set up that they can try to find their loved ones?
HANCOCKS: Well, the U.K. Foreign Office has given a hotline number for people to be phoning. Many people though have said that they tried on Sunday for hours at a time. Some saying seven, eight hours to try and find information.
And the problem is, as well, that communication is so bad in southeast Asia at the moment that it's very difficult for the Foreign Office itself to be able to get information to these people. Many relatives I've been speaking to say that they only discovered that their loved ones were safe by a random text message from a mobile phone whose number they didn't recognize, just saying, "I'm alive."
Not knowing much more, not knowing when they're coming home, but just knowing the basic facts so that they could stop worrying to a certain extent. So communication between the U.K. Foreign Office and the main consuls in southeast Asia is also quite shaky at the moment -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. A lot of families still waiting. CNN's Paula Hancocks in London for us. Thank you, Paula -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: The earthquake that triggered the deadly tsunamis was the fourth strongest quake in history -- recorded history, that is. It was also the strongest in 40 years.
On March 28, 1964, a magnitude 9.2 earthquake hit Alaska. It was good Friday. The walls of this five-story building in Anchorage crashed to the street after the quake.
The quake triggered a tsunami that destroyed much of the Alaska coast, including oil tanks and three villages entirely. The tsunami raged along the West Coast, killing 107 people in Alaska, four in Oregon and 11 in California.
NGUYEN: In other news, another audiotape has surfaced from a man claiming to be Osama bin Laden. It was aired by the Arabic language network Al Jazeera.
Now, on the tape the speaker reportedly calls for Iraqis to boycott next month's elections, and he also refers to terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq. The tape has yet to be authenticated. Our terrorism analyst Peter Bergen will join us later this hour with more on this message.
O'BRIEN: A tragedy thousands of miles away hitting closes to home for many in the U.S. Just ahead, those waiting and worrying about loved ones in the path of those tsunamis. And trying to get home for the holidays proved to be impossible for some folks stranded at airports across America. Ahead, a travel expert has some advice for those left out in the cold.
And speaking of cold, snow and ice make it hazardous going for Americans trying to travel by car.
We'll have details on all those stories ahead on LIVE FROM.
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O'BRIEN: The latest total on deaths from the disastrous wave of tsunamis, more than 22,000 people, mostly in countries that ring the Indian Ocean. The numbers are likely to change. And what we give you here is the best we can do at the moment.
In Sri Lanka alone, the death toll today has topped 10,000 people. Now, Chicago interior designer Nate Berkus was asleep in a beachfront cottage on Sri Lanka's eastern coast when the tsunami hit. You might recognize him from his frequent appearances on the "Oprah Winfrey Show." Berkus paints a horrifying picture of the moment of impact and the overwhelming devastation in the aftermath.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATE BERKUS, SURVIVOR: We were completely devastated yesterday morning around 9:00 in the morning. We desperately, desperately need help from the government here. We're without water; we're without food, and many of us are injured. There are women and children who are - there's a pregnant woman with broken ribs.
We've - the - the Sri Lankan army seems to only have very few helicopters here that have touched down and taken away very few of the injured people. We've all been sleeping in a field throughout the night, and right now I believe it's about 4 in the morning here.
I'm with about a group of 50 tourists as well as many locals. And it's just been utter devastation. Bodies everywhere. And just really, absolutely horrible, horrible devastation.
There was absolutely no warning. I was asleep in a beachfront cottage. I heard a loud noise. All of a sudden, the roof was ripped off of the cottage, and my friend and I were taken out to sea - just taken in currents that were so strong with debris and cars and animals and people (UNINTELLIGIBLE) by.
We were able to hang on to a telephone pole with a mattress wedged between us for literally 30 seconds. There was a calm in the storm, and then another wave hit. Both of us were torn from the - from the phone pole.
I finally climbed down to a roof of a home -- because the water pushed me behind the home - and sat out the rest of the waves on top of this structure, which luckily held. But many people have died. There are - a lot of us are injured here. I'm very scraped up, but luckily I'm OK. And I'm still missing my friend.
Really, against that kind of force of nature, there was nothing any of us could do. There were definitely people helping one another in the - in the aftermath, helping to reunite families and helping to understand exactly what was going on. But the bottom line is, we desperately need help here and we need it first thing, as soon as the sun comes up here, which is in a couple of hours. I understand the American government has something under way. I hope that that's true, because we are really very desperate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: We are hearing so many chilling stories today. And our colleagues at cnn.com are offering an online special report on the tsunami disaster.
The report includes firsthand accounts from witnesses sent to us by e-mail. Here's one viewer's story.
This person writes, "My father, Ray De Silva (ph), witnessed a tsunami in Sri Lanka. He and his brother were going to buy fish from a fisherman near the sea."
"Now, on his way, he noticed that the sea had become still and was starting to go inwards. He knew something was wrong but never expected this disaster. It was a warm day with brilliant sunshine."
"He said that people were curious and most of the children had wandered into the sea to see what was happening. Then suddenly people were screaming and running towards land. My father braked as people were screaming at him to stop."
"He looked up and saw that the sea was coming towards him. It was a huge tidal wave. He yanked the door open, followed by his brother. He saw a man being knocked down by the wave in front of him."
"He started running. The wave hit them but he kept on running. He lost his sandals and was barefoot. All he could see was his new Hyundai Sonata being lifted 50 feet and being hurled into a wall, smashing it."
He ran about 14 kilometers until he reached dry land. His car still remains near the sea. He was terribly shaken but safe."
And that's from Sharon De Silva (ph) from Racine, Wisconsin.
The CNN.com special report is online. You can find it at CNN.com/specials/2004/tsunami.disaster. And you can send some e-mails there as well -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. And you just go to the main page as well, and there are some hot links to it if you like.
In this country and around the world, people with friends and family in the Asian disaster zone are desperately searching for word about their loved ones. CNN's Miguel Marquez spoke with two people in Los Angeles with family ties to Sri Lanka.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anhangama Dhammarama is a Buddhist monk. He has meditated in Los Angeles for 26 years. But now the devastation that has swept across his home country of Sri Lanka has the 79-year-old monk thinking about home.
AHANGAMA DHAMMARAMA, LOS ANGELES BUDDHIST TEMPLE: My brothers, sometimes I have some bad feelings. What happened to my brother?
MARQUEZ: Dhammarama's brother and nephew live in Ahangama, a city of 50,000 people on Sri Lanka's southern coast. They live a short walk away from the ocean.
DHAMMARAMA: I tried to call them. Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything. Like 6:00 until 11:00, I try, try, try. I couldn't do that.
MARQUEZ: Walter Jiawarhana (ph) is the LA correspondent for Sri Lanka's biggest daily newspaper.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From eastern province to southern province to western -- western coast, there is one story of disaster.
MARQUEZ: Jiawarhana (ph) says his country is effectively crippled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All their communication systems are gone. Roads are gone. The railways are gone. Schools are gone. Churches are gone. Everything is gone.
DHAMMARAMA: This is my -- my father. This is my mother. These are my brothers.
MARQUEZ: Dhammarama was in his home town last February. His brother built a library for the local high school. The school is 40 feet from the beach. Dhamaramma looks at pictures of the opening celebrations and wonders, is anything left?
DHAMMARAMA: People are very quiet, very peaceful people. Nothing there. Unfortunately, this one is first time. That's why I'm so upset about that.
MARQUEZ (on camera): Here in LA, the Sri Lankan, Indian and Indonesian communities are just beginning their efforts to find their families and assist their home countries. Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Much more to come in our coverage of the tsunami disaster. We'll hear more from survivors.
Plus, Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the latest on the emerging health problems in these disaster zones. That's coming up in about 10 minutes' time.
NGUYEN: Turning to Iraq now, insurgents trying to derail January elections target a major Shiite party headquarters. A suicide bomber today struck the Baghdad headquarters of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. At least six people were killed and 33 were wounded. The explosion missed the head of the Shiite party who was at home at the time of that attack.
Meanwhile, a major Sunni party today says it will not take part in elections, citing security concerns.
Well, you can expect more boots on the ground in Mosul very soon. That's what the head of the U.S. forces in that region has told our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. She went to Qatar for this story that you will see only on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As violence continues in the northern city of Mosul, and elections are just one month away in Iraq, General John Abizaid, the senior U.S. military commander in the region, has confirmed to CNN in an exclusive interview that troop levels in Mosul are about to go up. The U.S. is determined to ensure control of the city.
GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: It's clear that Mosul will need additional boots on the ground during the election period. We will figure out what the right combination of boots on the ground may be. Mosul is very important in all terms in Iraq.
STARR: Abizaid is emphasizing the additional troops in Mosul will include Iraqis and U.S. forces to be shifted from other areas inside the country. He spoke to CNN from his desert headquarters in Doha, Qatar.
ABIZAID: We will make additional adjustments of forces for Mosul.
STARR: The U.S. recently increased troop levels in Iraq to 150,000 so these types of pre-election problems could be dealt with. Ensuring Sunnis in Mosul feel secure enough to vote is crucial. The suicide bombing at the U.S. military base only underscored the problem, officials say.
But now it could require another 6,000 to 8,000 total troops to be sent to Mosul. Senior U.S. military sources in the region tell CNN the city has been racked by violence for weeks. Local Iraqi security forces have virtually melted away, say those officials. One senior U.S. officer tells CNN, "We have no Iraqi police force up in Mosul today."
The problem in getting Iraqis to fight the insurgency may be deeper across Iraq. The military assessment now is that the U.S. miscalculated Iraqi tribal and religious loyalties and did not realize Iraqis are likely to fight only for their brethren.
Thousands of Iraqi security forces have been put in the field. But the focus has been on numbers of troops, training and equipment, not on experience, confidence and leadership. So in cases like Mosul, they simply will not fight the intimidation of the insurgents, the U.S. now believes.
The solution now? The U.S. is planing to put 10 to 20-man training teams with individual Iraqi units across the country after the January election. The hope is this type of local on-the-ground effort will make Iraqi forces more willing to fight.
Barbara Starr, CNN, Doha, Qatar.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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NGUYEN: Safety in the snow. A winter storm tops our look at news "Across America" now.
Police are warning drivers to remain cautious today after a winter storm dumped as much as 14 inches of snow on parts of eastern Virginia. Sunday's storm mainly affected parts of the Hampton Roads and Tidewater regions.
And lost luggage. The Department of Transportation is looking into baggage problems involving US Airways. Over the holiday, thousands of airline passengers were without luggage for days. US Airways blamed a record number of employee sick-outs for the problem. The airline was forced to fill seven planes with just luggage.
O'BRIEN: Well, when you buy a car, you have your choice of different option packages. You can get stripped down, fully loaded, so on and so on.
NGUYEN: I kind of likes the fully loaded.
O'BRIEN: Do you?
NGUYEN: Although it costs a lot more. David Haffenreffer joins us now to talk about all of this.
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