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Live From...
Tsunami Disaster Relief Intensifies; Families Search For Loved Ones
Aired December 28, 2004 - 15:00 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.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Checking headlines now in the news, searching for survivors. In Ramsey, Minnesota, firefighters say three people still could be trapped in the rubble following a building explosion. One man was pulled out alive. His condition is unknown. So is the cause of that blast.
Susan Sontag called herself an obsessed moralist and a zealot of seriousness. She died this morning at a New York cancer hospital. The outspoken author and lifelong human rights activist was 71.
Well, 9-1 it's him, Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted man. That is the opinion of a CIA official who has reviewed an audiotape broadcast yesterday on Al-Jazeera. On it, the speaker urges Iraqis to boycott upcoming elections.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, they came without warning. They killed without mercy. And now those tsunamis born of a colossal undersea earthquake are long gone, but the world still struggles to understand the scope of the tragedy and to respond.
A dozen nations suffered death and destruction and half of those are ravaged really beyond description. In India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, in particular, tens of thousands who managed to escape with their lives lost everything else. Those who didn't escape are buried quickly, unceremoniously, in vast graves, in hopes of stemming the near uncertain outbreaks of disease.
CNN has confirmed now more than 33,000 deaths, though unofficial estimates top 60,000. Even that number does not include U.N. predictions of tens of thousands more deaths from water-borne illness later.
NGUYEN: UNICEF estimates a third of the dead, untold numbers of the hurt or homeless may be children. CNN has been following a Swedish tot who turned up alone in a Thailand hospital, banged up, no sign of family, no clues to identity. Earlier, CNN reported the boy had been reunited with his father. That was not the case. His father is said to be in a different Thai hospital.
Still, though, as CNN's Matthew Chance reports, for this child, all is not lost.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): At a guess, he's just 2 or 3, gasping for breath and alone. Nurses in this Phuket hospital call him Boo-Boo, but his real name is lost, like his parents in the chaos of this tragedy.
Bruised and scratched, he was found half drown and in shock. They didn't know what country he was from. When he's around people he gets upset, even angry, his nurse tells us. When he's alone or with me, he just sits.
Outside the town hall in Phuket, faces of the dead and missing are pinned to notice boards as the waters have receded; desperation is swamping this holiday paradise. Families like the Johnson's from Sweden have flown in to find their missing daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, but it's better to be here, instead of sitting home and only see on the television. So we asked to be here and see what we can do and if we can find her or figure out what happened to her.
CHANCE, (on camera): These are still early days in this disaster without precedent. Across the region, casualty figures and the numbers of missing are still rising. Yet amid all of this tragedy, for some at least there is still hope.
CHANCE (voice over): For them it's a miracle, but this is one family at least reunited. After a frantic search, Boo-Boo is back in the arms of his grandmother. His real name is Hanis she tells me. His father is alive in hospital, his mother still missing. Moments of joy tinged with terrible loss.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Phuket, Thailand.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Now, that same hospital is seeking help with another child. Sofia Michael (ph), seen here, 10 years old from Germany. The hospital dearly wants to find Sofia's parents, Norbert (ph) and Eldetrod Michael (ph). And from the streets of Phuket comes this heart-wrenching photo of Carl Nielsen (ph) of Lulea, Sweden. Carl says his parents and brothers were swept out to sea and he has nowhere to turn.
O'BRIEN: Oh, my God. That just breaks your heart.
Definite shortage of happy endings in the wake of this disaster. That's especially true for one island nation.
ITN reporter Harry Smith with snapshots from Sri Lanka, where tsunamis have left behind a mosaic of misery.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRY SMITH, ITN REPORTER (voice-over): This video shot by a British tourist captures the moments the beachside resort was engulfed by the waves. There's a crash of glass as the hotel windows give way and water floods in.
From their balcony, the holiday makers realize that, amid the sun chairs and debris, there are people trapped. They may be drowned. A short distance away, it's the railway system that's collapsed, this one of many places where the line was simply washed away.
(on camera): Before the wave struck, this railway line was carried on an embankment parallel to this road. As you can see, the force of the water has demolished that embankment, pushed the railway line away and flipped the whole thing on its back.
(voice-over): On another stretch of line, one train was thrown from the track by the impact of the waves. A thousand passengers were on board. All are either dead or missing; 200 bodies have already been removed. The town of Galle has suffered more than most on this tortured stretch of coastline. The wave crashed into the town, killing more than 1,000 people.
There is not a low-lying building which wasn't damaged. When we visited Galle today, a team of volunteers was still touring the town, collecting unidentified bodies pulled from the rubble. The sea tore through the town's bus station, where buses were tossed around like toys. The seafront market has been flattened and dozens of businesses ruined.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will take another 10 years time to build all this back to normal, I think. So all the people in -- I mean, business keepers and industries, they have start it again as a fresh business.
SMITH: But the town can be thankful for one thing. The disaster happened on a Sunday morning, when many shops were closed. On a busy market day, the death toll could have been 10 times higher.
Harry Smith, ITV News, Galle, Sri Lanka.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: The United States announced an additional $20 million in disaster relief today. Now, that makes a total of $35 million to the affected areas. A State Department official indicates more is likely to come.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM ERELI, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: The clear message, however, is that we are committed to helping. The United States government I think has responded quickly and in a meaningful way, and that will continue to be our approach as we go through what is going to be an -- unfortunately, a long and difficult period of assessment and then relief and reconstruction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Now, yesterday, a United Nations relief official said a number of nations are -- quote -- "stingy" about foreign aide in general, and he singled out America. Well, today, that official said his remark was misinterpreted. And he added that the international response to the crisis in Asia has been very generous.
In the wake of this disaster, private aid agencies also are reaching out.
With part of that story, here's CNN's Ted Rowlands from Goleta, California -- Ted.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Betty.
We're at Direct Relief International. They have a warehouse here just north of Santa Barbara. And they have been working pretty much around the clock since the tsunamis hit and word spread that help was needed. People stopped their holiday.
Right now, to give you an indication of what type of things they are doing, this is a package that was already to go earmarked for India before the tsunamis. But it was going to be going ocean freight. What they are doing is breaking this down, repackaging it to it there quickly via air freight.
One of the things that they are doing in this warehouse -- it's a 63,000-foot warehouse. They have the largest standing inventory of medical supplies in the state and one of the largest in the United States. Like other facilities like this, they are trying to stamp -- or trying to get ready to deliver the needed medical relief in the affected countries from the tsunamis.
There's work here in the warehouse, them bundling things, getting them ready. There is also extensive work on the phones, because they are not quite sure what needs to go where because of the complexity of this situation. Multiple countries are affected. Thousands of people are affected. They want to make sure what they are sending gets to the proper places. What they do know is that they anticipate the need for a lot of medicine.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THOMAS TIGHE, PRESIDENT & CEO, DIRECT RELIEF INTERNATIONAL: Things that you have to be concerned about are the diarrheas, perhaps typhoid, hepatitis, that can come into the water. So, we have antibiotics, anti-fungal medications to treat it. It's pretty basic stuff, really. But the volume is going to -- likely to be high.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: Folks here say that the response to relief efforts has been phenomenal both from private donors to corporate partners. FedEx has allowed them to use one of their 747s to transport goods. Right now, they are trying to assemble medical supplies to fill that plane. They are working with other aid organizations in the West to fill that plane, which is -- they hope it will leave Los Angeles in the next day or two, so that these supplies can get to the folks that need them most.
And they anticipate that not only the items that come in the next few days will be needed, but that this is going to go on for a very long time, weeks and possibly months ahead. And they are prepared to continue to fuel that relief as needed to these countries -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Ted, it's an enormous effort. For people watching at home, what's the best thing to donate?
ROWLANDS: Cash. As callous as that sounds, giving the money to those that know how to use it is, that already have the infrastructures established, is really the only way to help out.
Other items that are donated, while well intended, can actually clog the system up. Trying to get clothes, food, independently to these countries will just hamper the already clogged system of trying to get the needed supplies to where they need to go. So they recommend, if you want to help out, go to the Internet, research it, make sure you are donating to a reputable organization, but donate money.
NGUYEN: And make it simple, yes, donate cash.
All right, Ted Rowlands in Goleta, California -- thank you, Ted -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: People around the world are looking for missing loved ones in the aftermath of the tsunami.
NGUYEN: And just ahead on LIVE FROM, we will show you how some are hoping the Internet will lead to some happy family reunions.
And both coasts of the United States are at risk for tsunami. We'll show you why just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER UPDATE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Well, from pleas to locate family members to harrowing tales of survival, the tragedy in Asia has thousands of people reaching out over the Internet.
In response, CNN has opened up its Web site to viewers with stories to share.
Joining us now with more on that, our colleague, Randi Kaye, who has been sifting through some really emotional, dramatic, really gripping e-mails.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very gripping e-mails.
And the goal here, Miles, is to get families reunited with their loved ones and get them some answers. We use the Internet to send e- mails and look up information every day. But these days, with the tsunami disaster in Southern Asia, many people desperate for news on their relatives are using the Web as sort of a high-tech SOS.
Here at CNN, we are trying to bring families back together. We set up a link at our Web site, CNN.com, where you can post information about your missing loved one. So many e-mails are coming in. And now they are coming in even faster, about one every minute. You can post a picture or simply describe who you are looking for. Some of them are very touching. So, we wanted to share them with you in the hopes someone will find answers as a result.
So, let's take a look at the first one here. This is from a woman who is looking for her boyfriend: "I am trying to find my boyfriend. Srinivasa Moorthy Pakki. He lives in Germany and he was to visit his parents in Chennai, India. I have not heard from him yet. If any one knows if he is OK please e-mail."
Next, here's a son who is missing: "My son Dominik Divis from Czech Republic is the instructor on Phi Phi Island, Thailand. He just completed his diving certificate and this is his first week of underwater work. He is 24 years old. We have no message from him yet."
This next one from a desperate mom: "I am seeking information about my two children who are vacationing in Phuket with my ex- husband. They are Melissa, age 17, and Matthew, age 15. They are with their father, Kevin Carr. I haven't heard anything about them and was wondering if somebody might have information. They arrived in Phuket on the 24th."
Descriptions are helpful. This one reads: "I have a daughter in Sri Lanka, Rachel Turner. She is 29, has long dark brown hair, brown eyes and is in the southern portion of the island that got hit by the tsunami. We are trying to find her."
And this is one from our youngest e-mailer, but not too young to understand the magnitude of disaster: "My friends were in Phuket. I'm a 13-year-old girl from Saudi Arabia. Their names are Frank Worcester and Nicole Dancer. I'm really worried about them and I just want to know if anyone has met them or know if they're OK."
And the last one: "My brother-in-law was on Phi Phi Island when the tsunami hit. We are still unable to locate him. He was at the Royal Princess Resort in a bungalow on the beach. His name is Ben Abels. He is 6'1'', thin, has brown hair and eyes. He was in the bungalow when the tsunami hit him and his friend. His friend said that it crashed down on them and she was pinned under the rubble. She hasn't seen him since. We want our brother back home. We need to find him. Please help."
If you can help any of these people or if you are looking for someone or know someone who might be, you can drop us an e-mail as tsunami@CNN.com or go to our Web site at CNN.com/quake, and there you will find numbers and other links that might help.
O'BRIEN: Yes, a couple thoughts that come to mind. It reminds me of immediately after 9/11, all the people missing, loved ones in the tall towers, obviously a different scenario. But the other thought is, the number of e-mails makes you realize how little we know really about the total death toll at this point. KAYE: And the good news, though, with the number of e-mails that we are seeing is that some of the families who e-mailed us initially have actually found their loved ones. They have made contact, which is good news. Our Web site is serving as sort of a message board. CNN is just simply the facilitator here.
O'BRIEN: Right.
KAYE: But, apparently, some of these families are coming back together. And with so many missing and homeless, that's certainly good news.
O'BRIEN: Some very tense, difficult moments for these families.
KAYE: That's for sure.
O'BRIEN: Randi Kaye, thanks for sharing those with us. We appreciate it.
KAYE: OK.
O'BRIEN: Betty.
NGUYEN: Many people are wondering if the killer tsunamis that rumbled across South Asia could happen in the U.S. You might be surprised to learn, they already have.
Here's CNN's Adaora Udoji with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The terror of a tsunami triggered by an earthquake swept Valdez, Alaska off the map on Good Friday in 1964. More than 100 people were killed down the coast to California. Since 1946, tsunamis have hit Alaska four times causing death and destruction all the way to Hawaii.
Today, scientists worry a tsunami could strike North America again. They worry about active fault lines causing earthquakes in the west, a triggering event for monster waves. Government officials worry too, which is why a federal warning system also monitors other potential triggers, volcanoes, meteorites and landslides.
D.L. JOHNSON, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: The warning systems are in their infancy. We're getting better and better at informing the public.
UDOJI: The East Coast hasn't been completely spared. A tidal wave bashed Newfoundland in 1929 killing 27. Another hit Puerto Rico in 1918.
TIM DIXON, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: We don't have big earthquakes here. We're not going to see that big type of tsunami.
UDOJI: But there are theories the East Coast may still be vulnerable. Some argue if the volcano in the Canary Islands, near Africa, suddenly erupted and collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean, it could send violent ripples to the U.S. coast within nine hours.
Other scientists worry about gasses escaping the continental crust, 50 to 100 miles off the coast of North Carolina. The idea of an explosive shift, argues Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Weissel, leads to troubling questions.
PROFESSOR JEFFREY WEISSEL, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: We were surprised and everybody is surprised about the amount of gas that we found and we don't understand the full implications for exciting future submarine landslides which then might produce dangerous tsunamis.
UDOJI: Scientists say they just can't yet connect all the dots but many still believe the West Coast has a greater risk of getting hit.
Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Tsunamis, although rare, are a phenomenon of nature, obviously. And there are lessons to be learned from history. In 1883, a volcano destroyed the island of Krakatoa in Indonesia. And it triggered deadly tsunamis.
Author and historian Simon Winchester wrote a best-selling book on this cataclysmic event which released last year. I spoke with him about it last evening.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIMON WINCHESTER, GEOLOGIST/AUTHOR: On Monday morning, the 27th of August, 1883, there was this titanic explosion.
Suddenly, the entire mountain vaporized in this extraordinary eruption, which produced a plume of ash and rock and dust, which went 25 miles into the sky and also produced the energy to force the sea apart and produce four -- and no one is entirely sure why there were four -- of these gigantic waves, which, in exactly the same physics that has been demonstrated in Sri Lanka, India and Thailand -- they are fairly benign in deep water. But once they get to shallow water, they pile up and go racing ahead.
The power of water, as we've seen so vividly on television, is absolutely immense, once you get it going. And this just laid waste to cities, railways, to -- all manner of things, miles into the jungle. There was a ship, a fully found iron ship which was bodily lifted up, carried 2.5 miles into the jungle. Everyone inside it was killed.
O'BRIEN: Give us a sense of how -- how did they recover from this event in 1883?
WINCHESTER: Mankind has this astonishing ability to deal with these situations. Things look absolutely appalling now. There's been an immense amount of tragedy. People don't learn, unfortunately. In the Philippines, volcanoes happen. People get killed in the hundreds. They rebuild their villages on the very same flanks of the volcanoes. There are people living on and going to Krakatoa, what remains of Krakatoa today even now. And I dare say it will be only a few weeks or months before the coastal villages in eastern Sri Lanka, in eastern India, and in western Thailand will be repopulated once again, because people think, once the situation has calmed down, nothing is going to happen.
But the uncertainty you have in any study of the world is that seismic events keep on happening.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Now, dust from the Krakatoa eruption swirled around the planet for years, causing a worldwide drop in temperatures and, according to witnesses at the time, some of the more spectacular sunsets anybody has ever recorded, really, but, nevertheless, obviously global impact on these kind of things.
And it is a humbling thing. It makes us realize our -- sort of our place in the universe here.
NGUYEN: Absolutely, it does.
O'BRIEN: Well, who do you admire in the United States the most?
NGUYEN: Is this where I say Miles O'Brien?
O'BRIEN: Well, I was hoping you would say...
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
NGUYEN: OK.
O'BRIEN: You don't have to.
NGUYEN: But in a few minutes, though, on "INSIDE POLITICS," a new Gallup poll on the most admired man -- maybe Miles.
O'BRIEN: Well, thank you very much.
NGUYEN: And most admired woman in America.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: I have to prepare my speech, don't I?
And just ahead, she may not have made that most admired list, but entertainer Liza Minnelli certainly is back in the news today. We'll find out why her bodyguard had to call 911.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Liza Minnelli and Prince top today's entertainment headlines.
To Los Angeles now and entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas.
Hello, Sibila.
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Miles.
Liza Minnelli is in the hospital recovering after apparently falling from her bed. According to reports, her bodyguard called 911 after trying unsuccessfully to get the singer up. It's been a pretty rough year for Minnelli. First, her estranged husband, David Gest, filed a $10 million lawsuit alleging physical abuse. Then, just this November, her former bodyguard accused her of abuse and sexual harassment -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: I'm sorry. What is it? I'm supposed to ask you about a backstage musician. I didn't get the question, Sibila. I'm sorry.
(CROSSTALK)
VARGAS: Let me tell you.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: I'm totally embarrassed.
VARGAS: No, don't be embarrassed. You are one of the most admired people on my list, too.
O'BRIEN: Oh, that's it.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: So, I would have won if I had remembered the question.
VARGAS: No, no. You are still tops in my game.
O'BRIEN: OK. Thank you, Sibila.
VARGAS: But when it comes to leading the way in concerts, making the green, the purple one is definitely king.
That's right. According to "Pollstar," a concert trade publication, Prince was the top dog when it came to reeling fans in this year. The artist raked in 87.4 million bucks in ticket sales, placing him at No. 1. No. 2 on the list is Las Vegas' new queen, Celine Dion, at $80.4 million. Queen of pop Madonna also had a successful year. She came in third. And rounding out the top five were Metallica and Bette Midler.
Well, it's almost here. Time to say goodbye to 2004 and hello to 2005. And preparations have already gotten under way for one of the most anticipated moments of the year, when the ball drops in New York City. Now, millions of you will, of course, be watching that very sentimental moment. And you might want to keep it right here on CNN. Why? I'll tell you why. Our very own Anderson Cooper will be having a party ringing in the new year in New York. Now, musical guests, well, how about Green Day, the Roots and Celine Dion? Now, that sounds like a party, Miles.
O'BRIEN: That is an all-star performance. Thank you, Sibila. I know you will be watching.
VARGAS: I definitely will.
O'BRIEN: All right. OK. Thanks for dropping by.
NGUYEN: And we all will be watching. You better be watching yourself, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Absolutely. Absolutely. I can't stay up that late, but I'll TiVo it.
(LAUGHTER)
NGUYEN: OK. Well, that wraps up LIVE FROM.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 28, 2004 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Checking headlines now in the news, searching for survivors. In Ramsey, Minnesota, firefighters say three people still could be trapped in the rubble following a building explosion. One man was pulled out alive. His condition is unknown. So is the cause of that blast.
Susan Sontag called herself an obsessed moralist and a zealot of seriousness. She died this morning at a New York cancer hospital. The outspoken author and lifelong human rights activist was 71.
Well, 9-1 it's him, Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted man. That is the opinion of a CIA official who has reviewed an audiotape broadcast yesterday on Al-Jazeera. On it, the speaker urges Iraqis to boycott upcoming elections.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, they came without warning. They killed without mercy. And now those tsunamis born of a colossal undersea earthquake are long gone, but the world still struggles to understand the scope of the tragedy and to respond.
A dozen nations suffered death and destruction and half of those are ravaged really beyond description. In India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, in particular, tens of thousands who managed to escape with their lives lost everything else. Those who didn't escape are buried quickly, unceremoniously, in vast graves, in hopes of stemming the near uncertain outbreaks of disease.
CNN has confirmed now more than 33,000 deaths, though unofficial estimates top 60,000. Even that number does not include U.N. predictions of tens of thousands more deaths from water-borne illness later.
NGUYEN: UNICEF estimates a third of the dead, untold numbers of the hurt or homeless may be children. CNN has been following a Swedish tot who turned up alone in a Thailand hospital, banged up, no sign of family, no clues to identity. Earlier, CNN reported the boy had been reunited with his father. That was not the case. His father is said to be in a different Thai hospital.
Still, though, as CNN's Matthew Chance reports, for this child, all is not lost.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): At a guess, he's just 2 or 3, gasping for breath and alone. Nurses in this Phuket hospital call him Boo-Boo, but his real name is lost, like his parents in the chaos of this tragedy.
Bruised and scratched, he was found half drown and in shock. They didn't know what country he was from. When he's around people he gets upset, even angry, his nurse tells us. When he's alone or with me, he just sits.
Outside the town hall in Phuket, faces of the dead and missing are pinned to notice boards as the waters have receded; desperation is swamping this holiday paradise. Families like the Johnson's from Sweden have flown in to find their missing daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, but it's better to be here, instead of sitting home and only see on the television. So we asked to be here and see what we can do and if we can find her or figure out what happened to her.
CHANCE, (on camera): These are still early days in this disaster without precedent. Across the region, casualty figures and the numbers of missing are still rising. Yet amid all of this tragedy, for some at least there is still hope.
CHANCE (voice over): For them it's a miracle, but this is one family at least reunited. After a frantic search, Boo-Boo is back in the arms of his grandmother. His real name is Hanis she tells me. His father is alive in hospital, his mother still missing. Moments of joy tinged with terrible loss.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Phuket, Thailand.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Now, that same hospital is seeking help with another child. Sofia Michael (ph), seen here, 10 years old from Germany. The hospital dearly wants to find Sofia's parents, Norbert (ph) and Eldetrod Michael (ph). And from the streets of Phuket comes this heart-wrenching photo of Carl Nielsen (ph) of Lulea, Sweden. Carl says his parents and brothers were swept out to sea and he has nowhere to turn.
O'BRIEN: Oh, my God. That just breaks your heart.
Definite shortage of happy endings in the wake of this disaster. That's especially true for one island nation.
ITN reporter Harry Smith with snapshots from Sri Lanka, where tsunamis have left behind a mosaic of misery.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRY SMITH, ITN REPORTER (voice-over): This video shot by a British tourist captures the moments the beachside resort was engulfed by the waves. There's a crash of glass as the hotel windows give way and water floods in.
From their balcony, the holiday makers realize that, amid the sun chairs and debris, there are people trapped. They may be drowned. A short distance away, it's the railway system that's collapsed, this one of many places where the line was simply washed away.
(on camera): Before the wave struck, this railway line was carried on an embankment parallel to this road. As you can see, the force of the water has demolished that embankment, pushed the railway line away and flipped the whole thing on its back.
(voice-over): On another stretch of line, one train was thrown from the track by the impact of the waves. A thousand passengers were on board. All are either dead or missing; 200 bodies have already been removed. The town of Galle has suffered more than most on this tortured stretch of coastline. The wave crashed into the town, killing more than 1,000 people.
There is not a low-lying building which wasn't damaged. When we visited Galle today, a team of volunteers was still touring the town, collecting unidentified bodies pulled from the rubble. The sea tore through the town's bus station, where buses were tossed around like toys. The seafront market has been flattened and dozens of businesses ruined.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will take another 10 years time to build all this back to normal, I think. So all the people in -- I mean, business keepers and industries, they have start it again as a fresh business.
SMITH: But the town can be thankful for one thing. The disaster happened on a Sunday morning, when many shops were closed. On a busy market day, the death toll could have been 10 times higher.
Harry Smith, ITV News, Galle, Sri Lanka.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: The United States announced an additional $20 million in disaster relief today. Now, that makes a total of $35 million to the affected areas. A State Department official indicates more is likely to come.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM ERELI, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: The clear message, however, is that we are committed to helping. The United States government I think has responded quickly and in a meaningful way, and that will continue to be our approach as we go through what is going to be an -- unfortunately, a long and difficult period of assessment and then relief and reconstruction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Now, yesterday, a United Nations relief official said a number of nations are -- quote -- "stingy" about foreign aide in general, and he singled out America. Well, today, that official said his remark was misinterpreted. And he added that the international response to the crisis in Asia has been very generous.
In the wake of this disaster, private aid agencies also are reaching out.
With part of that story, here's CNN's Ted Rowlands from Goleta, California -- Ted.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Betty.
We're at Direct Relief International. They have a warehouse here just north of Santa Barbara. And they have been working pretty much around the clock since the tsunamis hit and word spread that help was needed. People stopped their holiday.
Right now, to give you an indication of what type of things they are doing, this is a package that was already to go earmarked for India before the tsunamis. But it was going to be going ocean freight. What they are doing is breaking this down, repackaging it to it there quickly via air freight.
One of the things that they are doing in this warehouse -- it's a 63,000-foot warehouse. They have the largest standing inventory of medical supplies in the state and one of the largest in the United States. Like other facilities like this, they are trying to stamp -- or trying to get ready to deliver the needed medical relief in the affected countries from the tsunamis.
There's work here in the warehouse, them bundling things, getting them ready. There is also extensive work on the phones, because they are not quite sure what needs to go where because of the complexity of this situation. Multiple countries are affected. Thousands of people are affected. They want to make sure what they are sending gets to the proper places. What they do know is that they anticipate the need for a lot of medicine.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THOMAS TIGHE, PRESIDENT & CEO, DIRECT RELIEF INTERNATIONAL: Things that you have to be concerned about are the diarrheas, perhaps typhoid, hepatitis, that can come into the water. So, we have antibiotics, anti-fungal medications to treat it. It's pretty basic stuff, really. But the volume is going to -- likely to be high.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: Folks here say that the response to relief efforts has been phenomenal both from private donors to corporate partners. FedEx has allowed them to use one of their 747s to transport goods. Right now, they are trying to assemble medical supplies to fill that plane. They are working with other aid organizations in the West to fill that plane, which is -- they hope it will leave Los Angeles in the next day or two, so that these supplies can get to the folks that need them most.
And they anticipate that not only the items that come in the next few days will be needed, but that this is going to go on for a very long time, weeks and possibly months ahead. And they are prepared to continue to fuel that relief as needed to these countries -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Ted, it's an enormous effort. For people watching at home, what's the best thing to donate?
ROWLANDS: Cash. As callous as that sounds, giving the money to those that know how to use it is, that already have the infrastructures established, is really the only way to help out.
Other items that are donated, while well intended, can actually clog the system up. Trying to get clothes, food, independently to these countries will just hamper the already clogged system of trying to get the needed supplies to where they need to go. So they recommend, if you want to help out, go to the Internet, research it, make sure you are donating to a reputable organization, but donate money.
NGUYEN: And make it simple, yes, donate cash.
All right, Ted Rowlands in Goleta, California -- thank you, Ted -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: People around the world are looking for missing loved ones in the aftermath of the tsunami.
NGUYEN: And just ahead on LIVE FROM, we will show you how some are hoping the Internet will lead to some happy family reunions.
And both coasts of the United States are at risk for tsunami. We'll show you why just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER UPDATE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Well, from pleas to locate family members to harrowing tales of survival, the tragedy in Asia has thousands of people reaching out over the Internet.
In response, CNN has opened up its Web site to viewers with stories to share.
Joining us now with more on that, our colleague, Randi Kaye, who has been sifting through some really emotional, dramatic, really gripping e-mails.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very gripping e-mails.
And the goal here, Miles, is to get families reunited with their loved ones and get them some answers. We use the Internet to send e- mails and look up information every day. But these days, with the tsunami disaster in Southern Asia, many people desperate for news on their relatives are using the Web as sort of a high-tech SOS.
Here at CNN, we are trying to bring families back together. We set up a link at our Web site, CNN.com, where you can post information about your missing loved one. So many e-mails are coming in. And now they are coming in even faster, about one every minute. You can post a picture or simply describe who you are looking for. Some of them are very touching. So, we wanted to share them with you in the hopes someone will find answers as a result.
So, let's take a look at the first one here. This is from a woman who is looking for her boyfriend: "I am trying to find my boyfriend. Srinivasa Moorthy Pakki. He lives in Germany and he was to visit his parents in Chennai, India. I have not heard from him yet. If any one knows if he is OK please e-mail."
Next, here's a son who is missing: "My son Dominik Divis from Czech Republic is the instructor on Phi Phi Island, Thailand. He just completed his diving certificate and this is his first week of underwater work. He is 24 years old. We have no message from him yet."
This next one from a desperate mom: "I am seeking information about my two children who are vacationing in Phuket with my ex- husband. They are Melissa, age 17, and Matthew, age 15. They are with their father, Kevin Carr. I haven't heard anything about them and was wondering if somebody might have information. They arrived in Phuket on the 24th."
Descriptions are helpful. This one reads: "I have a daughter in Sri Lanka, Rachel Turner. She is 29, has long dark brown hair, brown eyes and is in the southern portion of the island that got hit by the tsunami. We are trying to find her."
And this is one from our youngest e-mailer, but not too young to understand the magnitude of disaster: "My friends were in Phuket. I'm a 13-year-old girl from Saudi Arabia. Their names are Frank Worcester and Nicole Dancer. I'm really worried about them and I just want to know if anyone has met them or know if they're OK."
And the last one: "My brother-in-law was on Phi Phi Island when the tsunami hit. We are still unable to locate him. He was at the Royal Princess Resort in a bungalow on the beach. His name is Ben Abels. He is 6'1'', thin, has brown hair and eyes. He was in the bungalow when the tsunami hit him and his friend. His friend said that it crashed down on them and she was pinned under the rubble. She hasn't seen him since. We want our brother back home. We need to find him. Please help."
If you can help any of these people or if you are looking for someone or know someone who might be, you can drop us an e-mail as tsunami@CNN.com or go to our Web site at CNN.com/quake, and there you will find numbers and other links that might help.
O'BRIEN: Yes, a couple thoughts that come to mind. It reminds me of immediately after 9/11, all the people missing, loved ones in the tall towers, obviously a different scenario. But the other thought is, the number of e-mails makes you realize how little we know really about the total death toll at this point. KAYE: And the good news, though, with the number of e-mails that we are seeing is that some of the families who e-mailed us initially have actually found their loved ones. They have made contact, which is good news. Our Web site is serving as sort of a message board. CNN is just simply the facilitator here.
O'BRIEN: Right.
KAYE: But, apparently, some of these families are coming back together. And with so many missing and homeless, that's certainly good news.
O'BRIEN: Some very tense, difficult moments for these families.
KAYE: That's for sure.
O'BRIEN: Randi Kaye, thanks for sharing those with us. We appreciate it.
KAYE: OK.
O'BRIEN: Betty.
NGUYEN: Many people are wondering if the killer tsunamis that rumbled across South Asia could happen in the U.S. You might be surprised to learn, they already have.
Here's CNN's Adaora Udoji with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The terror of a tsunami triggered by an earthquake swept Valdez, Alaska off the map on Good Friday in 1964. More than 100 people were killed down the coast to California. Since 1946, tsunamis have hit Alaska four times causing death and destruction all the way to Hawaii.
Today, scientists worry a tsunami could strike North America again. They worry about active fault lines causing earthquakes in the west, a triggering event for monster waves. Government officials worry too, which is why a federal warning system also monitors other potential triggers, volcanoes, meteorites and landslides.
D.L. JOHNSON, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: The warning systems are in their infancy. We're getting better and better at informing the public.
UDOJI: The East Coast hasn't been completely spared. A tidal wave bashed Newfoundland in 1929 killing 27. Another hit Puerto Rico in 1918.
TIM DIXON, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: We don't have big earthquakes here. We're not going to see that big type of tsunami.
UDOJI: But there are theories the East Coast may still be vulnerable. Some argue if the volcano in the Canary Islands, near Africa, suddenly erupted and collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean, it could send violent ripples to the U.S. coast within nine hours.
Other scientists worry about gasses escaping the continental crust, 50 to 100 miles off the coast of North Carolina. The idea of an explosive shift, argues Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Weissel, leads to troubling questions.
PROFESSOR JEFFREY WEISSEL, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: We were surprised and everybody is surprised about the amount of gas that we found and we don't understand the full implications for exciting future submarine landslides which then might produce dangerous tsunamis.
UDOJI: Scientists say they just can't yet connect all the dots but many still believe the West Coast has a greater risk of getting hit.
Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Tsunamis, although rare, are a phenomenon of nature, obviously. And there are lessons to be learned from history. In 1883, a volcano destroyed the island of Krakatoa in Indonesia. And it triggered deadly tsunamis.
Author and historian Simon Winchester wrote a best-selling book on this cataclysmic event which released last year. I spoke with him about it last evening.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIMON WINCHESTER, GEOLOGIST/AUTHOR: On Monday morning, the 27th of August, 1883, there was this titanic explosion.
Suddenly, the entire mountain vaporized in this extraordinary eruption, which produced a plume of ash and rock and dust, which went 25 miles into the sky and also produced the energy to force the sea apart and produce four -- and no one is entirely sure why there were four -- of these gigantic waves, which, in exactly the same physics that has been demonstrated in Sri Lanka, India and Thailand -- they are fairly benign in deep water. But once they get to shallow water, they pile up and go racing ahead.
The power of water, as we've seen so vividly on television, is absolutely immense, once you get it going. And this just laid waste to cities, railways, to -- all manner of things, miles into the jungle. There was a ship, a fully found iron ship which was bodily lifted up, carried 2.5 miles into the jungle. Everyone inside it was killed.
O'BRIEN: Give us a sense of how -- how did they recover from this event in 1883?
WINCHESTER: Mankind has this astonishing ability to deal with these situations. Things look absolutely appalling now. There's been an immense amount of tragedy. People don't learn, unfortunately. In the Philippines, volcanoes happen. People get killed in the hundreds. They rebuild their villages on the very same flanks of the volcanoes. There are people living on and going to Krakatoa, what remains of Krakatoa today even now. And I dare say it will be only a few weeks or months before the coastal villages in eastern Sri Lanka, in eastern India, and in western Thailand will be repopulated once again, because people think, once the situation has calmed down, nothing is going to happen.
But the uncertainty you have in any study of the world is that seismic events keep on happening.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Now, dust from the Krakatoa eruption swirled around the planet for years, causing a worldwide drop in temperatures and, according to witnesses at the time, some of the more spectacular sunsets anybody has ever recorded, really, but, nevertheless, obviously global impact on these kind of things.
And it is a humbling thing. It makes us realize our -- sort of our place in the universe here.
NGUYEN: Absolutely, it does.
O'BRIEN: Well, who do you admire in the United States the most?
NGUYEN: Is this where I say Miles O'Brien?
O'BRIEN: Well, I was hoping you would say...
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
NGUYEN: OK.
O'BRIEN: You don't have to.
NGUYEN: But in a few minutes, though, on "INSIDE POLITICS," a new Gallup poll on the most admired man -- maybe Miles.
O'BRIEN: Well, thank you very much.
NGUYEN: And most admired woman in America.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: I have to prepare my speech, don't I?
And just ahead, she may not have made that most admired list, but entertainer Liza Minnelli certainly is back in the news today. We'll find out why her bodyguard had to call 911.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Liza Minnelli and Prince top today's entertainment headlines.
To Los Angeles now and entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas.
Hello, Sibila.
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Miles.
Liza Minnelli is in the hospital recovering after apparently falling from her bed. According to reports, her bodyguard called 911 after trying unsuccessfully to get the singer up. It's been a pretty rough year for Minnelli. First, her estranged husband, David Gest, filed a $10 million lawsuit alleging physical abuse. Then, just this November, her former bodyguard accused her of abuse and sexual harassment -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: I'm sorry. What is it? I'm supposed to ask you about a backstage musician. I didn't get the question, Sibila. I'm sorry.
(CROSSTALK)
VARGAS: Let me tell you.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: I'm totally embarrassed.
VARGAS: No, don't be embarrassed. You are one of the most admired people on my list, too.
O'BRIEN: Oh, that's it.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: So, I would have won if I had remembered the question.
VARGAS: No, no. You are still tops in my game.
O'BRIEN: OK. Thank you, Sibila.
VARGAS: But when it comes to leading the way in concerts, making the green, the purple one is definitely king.
That's right. According to "Pollstar," a concert trade publication, Prince was the top dog when it came to reeling fans in this year. The artist raked in 87.4 million bucks in ticket sales, placing him at No. 1. No. 2 on the list is Las Vegas' new queen, Celine Dion, at $80.4 million. Queen of pop Madonna also had a successful year. She came in third. And rounding out the top five were Metallica and Bette Midler.
Well, it's almost here. Time to say goodbye to 2004 and hello to 2005. And preparations have already gotten under way for one of the most anticipated moments of the year, when the ball drops in New York City. Now, millions of you will, of course, be watching that very sentimental moment. And you might want to keep it right here on CNN. Why? I'll tell you why. Our very own Anderson Cooper will be having a party ringing in the new year in New York. Now, musical guests, well, how about Green Day, the Roots and Celine Dion? Now, that sounds like a party, Miles.
O'BRIEN: That is an all-star performance. Thank you, Sibila. I know you will be watching.
VARGAS: I definitely will.
O'BRIEN: All right. OK. Thanks for dropping by.
NGUYEN: And we all will be watching. You better be watching yourself, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Absolutely. Absolutely. I can't stay up that late, but I'll TiVo it.
(LAUGHTER)
NGUYEN: OK. Well, that wraps up LIVE FROM.
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