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Making Sense of the Devastation; U.S. Military to Assist Relief Efforts; Coordination Key to Relief Efforts' Success; Humanitarian Crisis Inspires Americans to Help; American Corporations Donating Supplies, Services; Security Bulletin Explains Methods of Terrorist Surveillance

Aired December 30, 2004 - 14:30   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.


(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
CAROL LIN, CO-HOST: Here's a quick look at the stories that are happening right now in the news.

The death toll from Sunday's deadly earthquake and tsunamis have now topped 116,000. And so far, $500 million pledged to relief effort. We're going to have the latest on the disaster in just a few moments with our correspondents around the region.

Now, after two recounts, Democrat Christine Gregoire was certified as Washington's new governor today. Gregoire won the election by 129 votes out of 2.8 million cast.

And 2004 is a banner year for tornadoes. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says 2004 saw 1,717 twisters in the United States. The number surpasses the old record by almost 300.

MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: An event that scarred the earth. The Asian tsunami devastated countries and, sadly, untold numbers of lives.

CNN's Beth Nissen helps put the tragedy in perspective for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What on earth happened? First an earthquake so strong that NASA geophysicists now believe it may have caused the planet to wobble on its axis. What followed changed the face of the planet.

This was the satellite view of the west Sri Lankan coast before the earthquake broke the ocean floor and released the monstrous tsunamis. And this is the view after those waves crash add shore, blurring the edges of nations and a subcontinent, entirely erasing an unknown number of small islands.

The devastation reached across six time zones more than 4,000 miles from Malaysia and Thailand to Somalia and Tanzania in northeast Africa. That's more than the breadth of the entire U.S. mainland from the tip of Maine to San Francisco. It is harder to measure, to comprehend the extent of human misery, loss. It is unlikely there will ever be a count of the lives forever changed by those deadly waves: the number of children who have lost loving parents, of parents who will never see their children grow up.

The waves of anguish, grief are global. The death count includes people of at least 40 nationalities, many of them vacationing in the area, British and Japanese, South Korean and South African, 12 from the United States.

As many nationalities are among the thousands still missing. About 20,000 Swedish tourists are thought to have been in the area. An estimated 1,500 of them are among the missing. So many that Sweden's foreign minister said you won't find many people in Sweden who don't have some personal link to this tragedy.

U.S. embassy officials are working from a list of more than 2,000 names of missing Americans, although the State Department believes most of them are alive but unable to get a phone call home.

Numbers of the missing are fluid, quickly changing: as many as 1,200 from Switzerland, perhaps 1,000 from Germany; 900 from Norway unaccounted for; 600 from Italy, 200 each from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland.

To factor the true loss, multiply the missing by the number of those who loved them and cared for them, who raised with them, worked with them, lived next door.

What on earth happened? This, the loss of a life in the flash of a moment. This, multiplied by 80,000. Maybe 90,000. Maybe more.

Beth Nissan, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Direct relief from the Pentagon is arriving in parts of Asia. More is on the way. The sort of mission with massive logistics involved actually is tailor-made for the military, but it also comes with risks.

Joining us now to examine all of this from Tucson, Major General Don Shepperd, U.S. Air Force, retired, our CNN military analyst.

General Shepperd, good to have you with us.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: My pleasure, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk how this sort of mission is, in fact, tailor-made for the military.

SHEPPERD: Well, Miles, it really is tailor-made, because it's a part of every military plan for combat operations and in training, as well. Anytime you have a military combat operation, you have humanitarian relief. In military jargon, it's called HUMRO, humanitarian relief operations.

And you always have refugees. And they need the same things you need in a disaster. They need water. They need food. They need medical attention, transportation and communications.

So it's something the military does and is uniquely qualified to do.

O'BRIEN: So to the extent that the military is, you know, finely tuned to provide just these sorts of things in remote locations quickly in, you know, in the nick of time kind of stuff, this is a perfect operation. But against that point is just the sheer magnitude of this particular event.

Is there the capability to provide for so many millions right now that are without the very basics, including drinking water?

SHEPPERD: Well, yes and no. Nobody can do it better than the military. What it amounts to is you have to have assessment teams go in and find out what's really needed. And then you need to have either steam it, in the case of ships, or fly it there, in the case of airplanes.

The military is uniquely prepared, because whenever it goes in combat operations, it moves small cities. And that's what you have in these operations.

You have a large -- the capability to provide large quantities of drinking water that can be brought in by the Navy. You have vehicles that can be brought in and flown in, if you will. And you've got communications gear. So the military does have the equipment and it does have the training to do this, and nobody else really does.

The humanitarian operations, the humanitarian relief organizations worldwide have the people and the organization to do the assessment, but they don't have the equipment at hand like the military does.

O'BRIEN: Of course, one of the things on people's minds now is the fact that we've been talking an awful lot about how stretched the military is with the occupation of Iraq ongoing and that not ending anytime soon. Is there enough manpower in the U.S. military to properly address this terrible humanitarian crisis?

SHEPPERD: Yes, there is. The way this unfolds is, when a -- when a -- something of this sort takes place, it's allotted to a combatant commander, in this case Pacific Command.

Now the war in Iraq and Afghanistan is being conducted by Central Command. So Pacific Command, although involved in that, in supplying people and material and what have you, is not conducting that war.

So Pacific Command, particularly with its ships and its airplanes, personnel, is in charge of this operation from a military standpoint. And the military, of course, coordinates with the relief agencies in the countries involved. On the other hand, this is not manpower intensive. It is going to be intensive in the way of ships bringing in large quantities and airplanes flying things in, but it's not huge numbers of military personnel like is required in a war, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Of course, it could become that way, General Shepperd, if the security situation required it. If for whatever reason, there's a problem with looting, that causing a security problem. Or in many of these places, there were ongoing guerrilla rebellions, which the military could get intertwined in if it wasn't careful.

SHEPPERD: Yes, generally speaking, you always have to walk those fine lines. Remember, you always do this at the request of and with the approval of the host country that's being affected. And so they are responsible for overall security. You are responsible to bring in security for your operations.

Looting, riots, all those type of things are something you train for and worry about in situations where people are short of food or water. But of course, again, the military knows how to do this, but you do have to walk that fine line.

O'BRIEN: Major general Don Shepperd, our military analyst, thanks as always for your time.

LIN: We've been talking about the contributions that different organizations are making, the United Nations pledging even more money today and springing into action to aid tsunami victims.

Joining me now is James Morris. He is the executive director of the U.N.'s World Food Program.

James, Kofi Annan today made the announcement that some 500 million dollars more will be heading towards the region. Give me the latest of what the World Food Program has been able to do on ground so far.

JAMES MORRIS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, U.N. WORLD FOOD PROGRAM: The World Food Program has now been distributing food in Indonesia, in Thailand, in Sri Lanka. We've distributed food, high-energy biscuits to the Maldives, the islands.

We have assessment teams on the ground trying to understand precisely the magnitude of the problem, where the people are that need help. Our preliminary assessment suggests that over the next six months, there may be as many as two million people in need of food.

This morning, I heard folks from the World Health Organization express their concern that maybe as many as five million people could be at risk of serious health complications. So issues of food and nutrition, water, sanitation, medical supplies are really important.

LIN: Right. I mean, you describe a vast problem. At the same time, you're a vast organization. There are people who are still saying that after three, four days, their children are without any food or any milk. There are babies who are now in the process of starving.

Why is it with so much money pledged and so much more supplies on the ground, why isn't the food getting it -- getting to the people?

MORRIS: Well, I think we need to remember that this just occurred on Sunday, and the World Food Program was distributing food within a matter of hours.

Now, this problem is unprecedented in -- in its geographical region, it touches two continents. It involves seven, eight, nine countries. People involved with hundreds if not thousands of islands, lots of people on shorelines. It's a very difficult logistical problem.

But my sense is that the humanitarian community has really responded promptly, and the donor community has been generous. It just takes a little bit of time.

LIN: A little bit of time. James, what is the danger that any of these people who are out there who may be sick right now or wounded might actually starve to death while the world gears up its humanitarian aid?

MORRIS: Well, I think the danger that people will starve to death in a matter of days is -- is very minimal. The United States has allowed the World Food Program to take food that was intended for one purpose and now to use it in Indonesia and to use it in Sri Lanka.

So I think food will be available to people quickly, and the likelihood that people will starve is -- is very small.

LIN: The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Sri Lanka has said that the situation on the ground when it comes to distributing aid is a mess. That the government, while it's trying to go about its business and sanitizing areas and bringing some drinkable water, there's just a lack of coordination.

I mean, talking with Save the Children yesterday, they said that's a big problem. I mean, who gives the orders? How is this coordinated? And they are an organization that actually has people working on the ground right now.

Are you encountering the same problems?

MORRIS: Well, not necessarily. Ultimately, it's the responsibility of the Sri Lankan government to coordinate the aid response.

Now, the United Nations will come together through its joint logistical center. The Red Cross will play a very important role in the coordination. It's not unusual in, you know, the first couple of days of a crisis for things to be a bit confused. But I assure you things will get sorted out promptly.

The government of Sri Lanka has said that they've had more response to their crisis than they can manage, and they've almost said to the international community, slow down a little bit.

LIN: All right. To slow down a little bit just so that everybody can get their ducks in order and the food...

MORRIS: That's correct.

LIN: ... and supplies get to where they're needed. James Morris, I will take that guarantee of yours, and we look forward to hopefully seeing progress on the ground, seeing people fed.

MORRIS: Thanks, Carol.

LIN: In the meantime, people in towns all across America have been touched by what they are seeing on television and are mobilizing their own relief efforts. We're going to show you one community's effort up next.

Plus, what are some of America's biggest corporations doing? Well, we're going to take a look at their offers to help.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: After the tsunami, many immigrants right here in the United States scrambled to learn the fate of family and loved ones still living in the stricken areas.

Ray Sayah of CNN affiliate WXYZ explains the disaster also mobilized friends and relatives to send aid and to send it fast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAY SAYAH, WXYZ REPORTER (voice-over): When pictures of the devastation on the southern shores of India hit television airwaves, Chandra Narayanan immediately reached for the phone.

CHANDRA NARAYANAN, FAMILY SURVIVED TSUNAMI: We tried and tried and tried, and finally we got hold of them and then we found that they are all OK.

SAYAH: Chandra's family is OK, but the Detroit resident says thousands of his countrymen in India desperately need help. So with Pontiac's Parashaki (ph) Temple, Chandra and his 3,000 fellow Hindu devotees are mobilizing, raising money for the biggest relief effort in history.

NARAYANAN: We are planning to send right away from our fund some money.

SAVAKOMAR SUBBARATHANAM, TEMPLE PRIEST: A human being has to help other human beings. It's a basic birth rite.

SAYAH: Help from southeastern Michigan is coming from the medical community, as well. The folks at Dr. Gary Renard's clinic in Rochester Hills plan to ship over sample medicines that often sit inside offices and are never used.

SHIRLEY KNOBLOCK, WORKS AT CLINIC: It's an excellent idea.

SAYAH: Dr. Renard's office is asking other local doctors to do the same.

KNOBLOCK: They need these antibiotics. They need disposable gloves. They need anything disposable, you know, garbage bags, anything that's going to help them clean up the devastation that's gone on over there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: That from our affiliate WXYZ. Thank you.

Corporations are using their profits for philanthropy. Companies from around the world are donating millions in relief aid to tsunami victims.

CNN's Allan Chernoff joining us live from New York with the details.

I assume this is about more than a little bit more than a tax write off, Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Most definitely, Miles.

Of course, these companies are building some good will, but they are responding, of course, to a very urgent crisis, and American companies taking a lead here. By our calculation, they have already committed well over $60 million. And that number certainly to go far higher.

Pharmaceutical companies have been among the leaders here. Pfizer, first of all, saying it's going to give $10 million to relief organizations, and it's giving $25 million worth of medicines and supplies, including many antibiotics.

Abbott Labs providing $2 million in cash, plus $2 million worth of supplies, and they produce products that fight dehydration. That is especially critical right now.

Johnson & Johnson, back when we were at AmeriCares several days ago, one of the relief organizations, we saw Johnson & Johnson cotton balls there, sanitary sponges. These all donations already made by J&J.

And Bristol Myers Squibb offering more than $1 million.

Corporate donations, some of the biggest companies in the world, ExxonMobil, for example, saying it will give $5 million, and that includes donations by employees.

Citigroup, $3 million, Wal-Mart, $2 million over there.

And many of the transportation companies are offering their own services. Northwest Airlines, for example, runs a cargo airline. It's a subsidiary. And they are committing to provide two 747s full of supplies. They'll be shipping, in fact, for that organization we mentioned, AmeriCares. This is 200 tons.

Now, Altria, the parent of Philip Morris, formerly known as Philip Morris, they paid for the first shipment from AmeriCares that actually left Amsterdam yesterday and should already be in Sri Lanka right now, hopefully making its way to some of the victims.

And we also have word from FedEx that they'll be providing shipments for six relief organizations.

So many of the major corporations in the U.S. chipping in right now -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: You know, Allan, we've been talking so much how important the coordination is in all this. And as I think about all these companies trying to do their level best to do what they can, who's coordinating all that?

CHERNOFF: Well, a lot of it is being done with the individual relief organizations. Many of these companies have established relationships, and so that certainly helps to expedite all of this relief.

Northwest, for example, says that it has worked with AmeriCares in the past. So they pick up the phone. They know exactly to whom they need to speak and right away, they can get things going.

So fortunately, much of this relief has been moving out pretty quickly.

O'BRIEN: All right. Fortunately it's a well-worn path in this case. Allan Chernoff, thanks for your time.

Imagine the tsunami. Imagine being underwater at the time. I mean, of all the stories we've heard, this one is something.

LIN: It is pretty amazing.

O'BRIEN: I mean, I just keep -- I amazed, I'm shocked, I'm saddened all day long. The tsunami hit and it passed right over some of these people. One couple has lived to tell this amazing tale.

LIN: Yes, it's like surfacing in a horror movie.

And only on CNN, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us what relief workers are doing right now to help the workers in Sri Lanka.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: The government is stepping up its anti-terror efforts with the New Year's celebrations almost here. This week local police agencies were sent a federal intelligence bulletin about al Qaeda and its surveillance activities in the U.S.

CNN's homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve joins us now with details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This lessons learned bulletin to state and local law enforcement and homeland security officials lays out specifics of how al Qaeda cases potential targets. It is based on the surveillance materials recovered in Pakistan last summer that led to a heightened threat alert level around certain financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

The bulletin discusses how al Qaeda uses open sources like the Web to gather a lot of information and photographs. It also talks about preferred locations from which operatives can case and what they're looking for, like the specifics on surveillance camera coverage, physical vulnerabilities, security personnel, when there are crowds, what are the escape routes.

One question: is this sort of surveillance going on now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know that they have anyone here today doing this. If we did, the FBI would identify them and arrest them. And there was nothing in the bulletin released by the government last night suggesting that there was information that people were carrying out these activities right now.

MESERVE: The bulletin says there is no indication in these documents that al Qaeda has moved beyond the initial planning stages.

In fact, the threat level around those targets was lowered shortly after the election because working from the seized documents, authorities were able to address building vulnerabilities. The hope is that other security professionals will also learn from the bulletin.

Meanwhile, a government official says there were six separate incidents in a four-day period this week in which laser beams were used to illuminate the cockpits of airplanes approaching airports. One was in Cleveland, another in Colorado Springs. The FBI is investigating.

At this point, they do not though if this was entirely innocent and coincidental or if there is something more sinister afoot. An FAA report last spring said laser beams can affect pilot eyesight in ways that could lead to an aircraft accident, but in all of these cases, flights landed safely.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night.

Major point of contention between the U.S. and our neighbor to the north is about to be resolved. What's the beef, you ask?

LIN: Oh, dear. O'BRIEN: Waiting for that all day, actually.

LIN: No Mad Cow, thank you, please. David Haffenreffer is standing by at the New York Stock Exchange with that story.

Hi, David.

(STOCK REPORT)

O'BRIEN: And I believe that's your penultimate appearance today, right?

DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is my penultimate appearance.

O'BRIEN: Good use of the word. Thank you, David Haffenreffer.

HAFFENREFFER: You bet.

LIN: Our word of the day.

All right. We're coming up on the top of the hour, and we are going to get the latest from the region on the tsunami relief efforts.

O'BRIEN: And some new pictures new to CNN this afternoon. Take a look at these. Before the tsunami, and then after the tsunami. This is Banda Aceh in Indonesia. And this is from our friends at Digital Globe, providing some amazing imagery, giving you a sense of the tragedy from yet another perspective.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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 30, 2004 - 14:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
CAROL LIN, CO-HOST: Here's a quick look at the stories that are happening right now in the news.

The death toll from Sunday's deadly earthquake and tsunamis have now topped 116,000. And so far, $500 million pledged to relief effort. We're going to have the latest on the disaster in just a few moments with our correspondents around the region.

Now, after two recounts, Democrat Christine Gregoire was certified as Washington's new governor today. Gregoire won the election by 129 votes out of 2.8 million cast.

And 2004 is a banner year for tornadoes. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says 2004 saw 1,717 twisters in the United States. The number surpasses the old record by almost 300.

MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: An event that scarred the earth. The Asian tsunami devastated countries and, sadly, untold numbers of lives.

CNN's Beth Nissen helps put the tragedy in perspective for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What on earth happened? First an earthquake so strong that NASA geophysicists now believe it may have caused the planet to wobble on its axis. What followed changed the face of the planet.

This was the satellite view of the west Sri Lankan coast before the earthquake broke the ocean floor and released the monstrous tsunamis. And this is the view after those waves crash add shore, blurring the edges of nations and a subcontinent, entirely erasing an unknown number of small islands.

The devastation reached across six time zones more than 4,000 miles from Malaysia and Thailand to Somalia and Tanzania in northeast Africa. That's more than the breadth of the entire U.S. mainland from the tip of Maine to San Francisco. It is harder to measure, to comprehend the extent of human misery, loss. It is unlikely there will ever be a count of the lives forever changed by those deadly waves: the number of children who have lost loving parents, of parents who will never see their children grow up.

The waves of anguish, grief are global. The death count includes people of at least 40 nationalities, many of them vacationing in the area, British and Japanese, South Korean and South African, 12 from the United States.

As many nationalities are among the thousands still missing. About 20,000 Swedish tourists are thought to have been in the area. An estimated 1,500 of them are among the missing. So many that Sweden's foreign minister said you won't find many people in Sweden who don't have some personal link to this tragedy.

U.S. embassy officials are working from a list of more than 2,000 names of missing Americans, although the State Department believes most of them are alive but unable to get a phone call home.

Numbers of the missing are fluid, quickly changing: as many as 1,200 from Switzerland, perhaps 1,000 from Germany; 900 from Norway unaccounted for; 600 from Italy, 200 each from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland.

To factor the true loss, multiply the missing by the number of those who loved them and cared for them, who raised with them, worked with them, lived next door.

What on earth happened? This, the loss of a life in the flash of a moment. This, multiplied by 80,000. Maybe 90,000. Maybe more.

Beth Nissan, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Direct relief from the Pentagon is arriving in parts of Asia. More is on the way. The sort of mission with massive logistics involved actually is tailor-made for the military, but it also comes with risks.

Joining us now to examine all of this from Tucson, Major General Don Shepperd, U.S. Air Force, retired, our CNN military analyst.

General Shepperd, good to have you with us.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: My pleasure, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk how this sort of mission is, in fact, tailor-made for the military.

SHEPPERD: Well, Miles, it really is tailor-made, because it's a part of every military plan for combat operations and in training, as well. Anytime you have a military combat operation, you have humanitarian relief. In military jargon, it's called HUMRO, humanitarian relief operations.

And you always have refugees. And they need the same things you need in a disaster. They need water. They need food. They need medical attention, transportation and communications.

So it's something the military does and is uniquely qualified to do.

O'BRIEN: So to the extent that the military is, you know, finely tuned to provide just these sorts of things in remote locations quickly in, you know, in the nick of time kind of stuff, this is a perfect operation. But against that point is just the sheer magnitude of this particular event.

Is there the capability to provide for so many millions right now that are without the very basics, including drinking water?

SHEPPERD: Well, yes and no. Nobody can do it better than the military. What it amounts to is you have to have assessment teams go in and find out what's really needed. And then you need to have either steam it, in the case of ships, or fly it there, in the case of airplanes.

The military is uniquely prepared, because whenever it goes in combat operations, it moves small cities. And that's what you have in these operations.

You have a large -- the capability to provide large quantities of drinking water that can be brought in by the Navy. You have vehicles that can be brought in and flown in, if you will. And you've got communications gear. So the military does have the equipment and it does have the training to do this, and nobody else really does.

The humanitarian operations, the humanitarian relief organizations worldwide have the people and the organization to do the assessment, but they don't have the equipment at hand like the military does.

O'BRIEN: Of course, one of the things on people's minds now is the fact that we've been talking an awful lot about how stretched the military is with the occupation of Iraq ongoing and that not ending anytime soon. Is there enough manpower in the U.S. military to properly address this terrible humanitarian crisis?

SHEPPERD: Yes, there is. The way this unfolds is, when a -- when a -- something of this sort takes place, it's allotted to a combatant commander, in this case Pacific Command.

Now the war in Iraq and Afghanistan is being conducted by Central Command. So Pacific Command, although involved in that, in supplying people and material and what have you, is not conducting that war.

So Pacific Command, particularly with its ships and its airplanes, personnel, is in charge of this operation from a military standpoint. And the military, of course, coordinates with the relief agencies in the countries involved. On the other hand, this is not manpower intensive. It is going to be intensive in the way of ships bringing in large quantities and airplanes flying things in, but it's not huge numbers of military personnel like is required in a war, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Of course, it could become that way, General Shepperd, if the security situation required it. If for whatever reason, there's a problem with looting, that causing a security problem. Or in many of these places, there were ongoing guerrilla rebellions, which the military could get intertwined in if it wasn't careful.

SHEPPERD: Yes, generally speaking, you always have to walk those fine lines. Remember, you always do this at the request of and with the approval of the host country that's being affected. And so they are responsible for overall security. You are responsible to bring in security for your operations.

Looting, riots, all those type of things are something you train for and worry about in situations where people are short of food or water. But of course, again, the military knows how to do this, but you do have to walk that fine line.

O'BRIEN: Major general Don Shepperd, our military analyst, thanks as always for your time.

LIN: We've been talking about the contributions that different organizations are making, the United Nations pledging even more money today and springing into action to aid tsunami victims.

Joining me now is James Morris. He is the executive director of the U.N.'s World Food Program.

James, Kofi Annan today made the announcement that some 500 million dollars more will be heading towards the region. Give me the latest of what the World Food Program has been able to do on ground so far.

JAMES MORRIS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, U.N. WORLD FOOD PROGRAM: The World Food Program has now been distributing food in Indonesia, in Thailand, in Sri Lanka. We've distributed food, high-energy biscuits to the Maldives, the islands.

We have assessment teams on the ground trying to understand precisely the magnitude of the problem, where the people are that need help. Our preliminary assessment suggests that over the next six months, there may be as many as two million people in need of food.

This morning, I heard folks from the World Health Organization express their concern that maybe as many as five million people could be at risk of serious health complications. So issues of food and nutrition, water, sanitation, medical supplies are really important.

LIN: Right. I mean, you describe a vast problem. At the same time, you're a vast organization. There are people who are still saying that after three, four days, their children are without any food or any milk. There are babies who are now in the process of starving.

Why is it with so much money pledged and so much more supplies on the ground, why isn't the food getting it -- getting to the people?

MORRIS: Well, I think we need to remember that this just occurred on Sunday, and the World Food Program was distributing food within a matter of hours.

Now, this problem is unprecedented in -- in its geographical region, it touches two continents. It involves seven, eight, nine countries. People involved with hundreds if not thousands of islands, lots of people on shorelines. It's a very difficult logistical problem.

But my sense is that the humanitarian community has really responded promptly, and the donor community has been generous. It just takes a little bit of time.

LIN: A little bit of time. James, what is the danger that any of these people who are out there who may be sick right now or wounded might actually starve to death while the world gears up its humanitarian aid?

MORRIS: Well, I think the danger that people will starve to death in a matter of days is -- is very minimal. The United States has allowed the World Food Program to take food that was intended for one purpose and now to use it in Indonesia and to use it in Sri Lanka.

So I think food will be available to people quickly, and the likelihood that people will starve is -- is very small.

LIN: The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Sri Lanka has said that the situation on the ground when it comes to distributing aid is a mess. That the government, while it's trying to go about its business and sanitizing areas and bringing some drinkable water, there's just a lack of coordination.

I mean, talking with Save the Children yesterday, they said that's a big problem. I mean, who gives the orders? How is this coordinated? And they are an organization that actually has people working on the ground right now.

Are you encountering the same problems?

MORRIS: Well, not necessarily. Ultimately, it's the responsibility of the Sri Lankan government to coordinate the aid response.

Now, the United Nations will come together through its joint logistical center. The Red Cross will play a very important role in the coordination. It's not unusual in, you know, the first couple of days of a crisis for things to be a bit confused. But I assure you things will get sorted out promptly.

The government of Sri Lanka has said that they've had more response to their crisis than they can manage, and they've almost said to the international community, slow down a little bit.

LIN: All right. To slow down a little bit just so that everybody can get their ducks in order and the food...

MORRIS: That's correct.

LIN: ... and supplies get to where they're needed. James Morris, I will take that guarantee of yours, and we look forward to hopefully seeing progress on the ground, seeing people fed.

MORRIS: Thanks, Carol.

LIN: In the meantime, people in towns all across America have been touched by what they are seeing on television and are mobilizing their own relief efforts. We're going to show you one community's effort up next.

Plus, what are some of America's biggest corporations doing? Well, we're going to take a look at their offers to help.

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LIN: After the tsunami, many immigrants right here in the United States scrambled to learn the fate of family and loved ones still living in the stricken areas.

Ray Sayah of CNN affiliate WXYZ explains the disaster also mobilized friends and relatives to send aid and to send it fast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAY SAYAH, WXYZ REPORTER (voice-over): When pictures of the devastation on the southern shores of India hit television airwaves, Chandra Narayanan immediately reached for the phone.

CHANDRA NARAYANAN, FAMILY SURVIVED TSUNAMI: We tried and tried and tried, and finally we got hold of them and then we found that they are all OK.

SAYAH: Chandra's family is OK, but the Detroit resident says thousands of his countrymen in India desperately need help. So with Pontiac's Parashaki (ph) Temple, Chandra and his 3,000 fellow Hindu devotees are mobilizing, raising money for the biggest relief effort in history.

NARAYANAN: We are planning to send right away from our fund some money.

SAVAKOMAR SUBBARATHANAM, TEMPLE PRIEST: A human being has to help other human beings. It's a basic birth rite.

SAYAH: Help from southeastern Michigan is coming from the medical community, as well. The folks at Dr. Gary Renard's clinic in Rochester Hills plan to ship over sample medicines that often sit inside offices and are never used.

SHIRLEY KNOBLOCK, WORKS AT CLINIC: It's an excellent idea.

SAYAH: Dr. Renard's office is asking other local doctors to do the same.

KNOBLOCK: They need these antibiotics. They need disposable gloves. They need anything disposable, you know, garbage bags, anything that's going to help them clean up the devastation that's gone on over there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: That from our affiliate WXYZ. Thank you.

Corporations are using their profits for philanthropy. Companies from around the world are donating millions in relief aid to tsunami victims.

CNN's Allan Chernoff joining us live from New York with the details.

I assume this is about more than a little bit more than a tax write off, Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Most definitely, Miles.

Of course, these companies are building some good will, but they are responding, of course, to a very urgent crisis, and American companies taking a lead here. By our calculation, they have already committed well over $60 million. And that number certainly to go far higher.

Pharmaceutical companies have been among the leaders here. Pfizer, first of all, saying it's going to give $10 million to relief organizations, and it's giving $25 million worth of medicines and supplies, including many antibiotics.

Abbott Labs providing $2 million in cash, plus $2 million worth of supplies, and they produce products that fight dehydration. That is especially critical right now.

Johnson & Johnson, back when we were at AmeriCares several days ago, one of the relief organizations, we saw Johnson & Johnson cotton balls there, sanitary sponges. These all donations already made by J&J.

And Bristol Myers Squibb offering more than $1 million.

Corporate donations, some of the biggest companies in the world, ExxonMobil, for example, saying it will give $5 million, and that includes donations by employees.

Citigroup, $3 million, Wal-Mart, $2 million over there.

And many of the transportation companies are offering their own services. Northwest Airlines, for example, runs a cargo airline. It's a subsidiary. And they are committing to provide two 747s full of supplies. They'll be shipping, in fact, for that organization we mentioned, AmeriCares. This is 200 tons.

Now, Altria, the parent of Philip Morris, formerly known as Philip Morris, they paid for the first shipment from AmeriCares that actually left Amsterdam yesterday and should already be in Sri Lanka right now, hopefully making its way to some of the victims.

And we also have word from FedEx that they'll be providing shipments for six relief organizations.

So many of the major corporations in the U.S. chipping in right now -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: You know, Allan, we've been talking so much how important the coordination is in all this. And as I think about all these companies trying to do their level best to do what they can, who's coordinating all that?

CHERNOFF: Well, a lot of it is being done with the individual relief organizations. Many of these companies have established relationships, and so that certainly helps to expedite all of this relief.

Northwest, for example, says that it has worked with AmeriCares in the past. So they pick up the phone. They know exactly to whom they need to speak and right away, they can get things going.

So fortunately, much of this relief has been moving out pretty quickly.

O'BRIEN: All right. Fortunately it's a well-worn path in this case. Allan Chernoff, thanks for your time.

Imagine the tsunami. Imagine being underwater at the time. I mean, of all the stories we've heard, this one is something.

LIN: It is pretty amazing.

O'BRIEN: I mean, I just keep -- I amazed, I'm shocked, I'm saddened all day long. The tsunami hit and it passed right over some of these people. One couple has lived to tell this amazing tale.

LIN: Yes, it's like surfacing in a horror movie.

And only on CNN, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us what relief workers are doing right now to help the workers in Sri Lanka.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: The government is stepping up its anti-terror efforts with the New Year's celebrations almost here. This week local police agencies were sent a federal intelligence bulletin about al Qaeda and its surveillance activities in the U.S.

CNN's homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve joins us now with details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This lessons learned bulletin to state and local law enforcement and homeland security officials lays out specifics of how al Qaeda cases potential targets. It is based on the surveillance materials recovered in Pakistan last summer that led to a heightened threat alert level around certain financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

The bulletin discusses how al Qaeda uses open sources like the Web to gather a lot of information and photographs. It also talks about preferred locations from which operatives can case and what they're looking for, like the specifics on surveillance camera coverage, physical vulnerabilities, security personnel, when there are crowds, what are the escape routes.

One question: is this sort of surveillance going on now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know that they have anyone here today doing this. If we did, the FBI would identify them and arrest them. And there was nothing in the bulletin released by the government last night suggesting that there was information that people were carrying out these activities right now.

MESERVE: The bulletin says there is no indication in these documents that al Qaeda has moved beyond the initial planning stages.

In fact, the threat level around those targets was lowered shortly after the election because working from the seized documents, authorities were able to address building vulnerabilities. The hope is that other security professionals will also learn from the bulletin.

Meanwhile, a government official says there were six separate incidents in a four-day period this week in which laser beams were used to illuminate the cockpits of airplanes approaching airports. One was in Cleveland, another in Colorado Springs. The FBI is investigating.

At this point, they do not though if this was entirely innocent and coincidental or if there is something more sinister afoot. An FAA report last spring said laser beams can affect pilot eyesight in ways that could lead to an aircraft accident, but in all of these cases, flights landed safely.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night.

Major point of contention between the U.S. and our neighbor to the north is about to be resolved. What's the beef, you ask?

LIN: Oh, dear. O'BRIEN: Waiting for that all day, actually.

LIN: No Mad Cow, thank you, please. David Haffenreffer is standing by at the New York Stock Exchange with that story.

Hi, David.

(STOCK REPORT)

O'BRIEN: And I believe that's your penultimate appearance today, right?

DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is my penultimate appearance.

O'BRIEN: Good use of the word. Thank you, David Haffenreffer.

HAFFENREFFER: You bet.

LIN: Our word of the day.

All right. We're coming up on the top of the hour, and we are going to get the latest from the region on the tsunami relief efforts.

O'BRIEN: And some new pictures new to CNN this afternoon. Take a look at these. Before the tsunami, and then after the tsunami. This is Banda Aceh in Indonesia. And this is from our friends at Digital Globe, providing some amazing imagery, giving you a sense of the tragedy from yet another perspective.

Stay with us.

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