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South Asia Quake; Flood Watch; Iraq Suicide Bombings

Aired October 11, 2005 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Everybody desperately wants to escape the terrible conditions here. Around the choppers it's chaos.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: The scope of the suffering. CNN's Matthew Chance takes you to a city crying out for help after the South Asia quake.

And a puzzling plane. No one knows how this stolen jet got to this airport, who flew it, or was onboard. Well, we've got the mystery flight investigation coming up.

From B Control at the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Kyra Phillips. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

One word from Pakistan: overwhelming. Three days after tens of thousands were killed, millions left homeless, and the planet's most recent monster disaster, the need, the obstacles and the world's response in the view Pakistan's government all have been overwhelming.

Adding to the misery of earthquake survivors and the obstacles for aid workers, rain, wind and hail. That temporarily grounded helicopters out of Islamabad.

Even so, food and supplies are beginning to reach the people and places in direst need. And much more help is coming. But the desperation, too, is simply overwhelming.

Pakistan is surely not suffering alone. More than a thousand are dead in India or Indian-controlled Kashmir. And we get the latest on that and an historic outreach to archrival Pakistan from CNN's Ram Ramgopal, phoning in from the city of Srinagar.

Ram, can you tell me about this outreach?

RAM RAMGOPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed, Betty. The Indian prime minister made this offer a few days ago, an offer of aid to Pakistan. And as you pointed out, these two countries have been archenemies for much of their history as independent nations.

So this was an offer which Pakistan has accepted in the last day or so. The Pakistanis will be accepting aid in the form of supplies which will fly into Pakistan directly. This is a major gesture from -- on the part of both the Indians and the Pakistanis for accepting this both. But both the leaders of India and Pakistan have stressed that they are both victims of this natural disaster, and obviously, Pakistan is a far bigger victim in this instance -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Ram, you're in Srinagar. Give us an update on the situation there, the devastation and the rescue of people still trapped..

RAMGOPAL: Yes. This is the Indian part of Kashmir, which is not very far, really, from the epicenter of the earthquake. As the crow flies, perhaps as close as 30 miles from that region.

And I can tell you that close to the line of control, which is the sort of de facto border between the two nations in Kashmir, there have been numerous reports of bodies being discovered in the far-flung villages of this Kashmiri region. We have heard today, in fact, that the death toll has risen dramatically, by almost 200 lives, as these rescue workers make their way to the (INAUDIBLE) and find bodies buried in rubble.

At the same time, Betty, the weather has been an issue here. Rain and biting cold which has descended on these mountains has basically caused a lot of havoc for not just the family survivors, but also for the relief workers who are trying to distribute aid.

NGUYEN: Yes, definitely. And we've heard that there's been some hail as well in the areas. What's being done for those who did survive, especially with all of the elements that they're facing with the cold weather and the nightfall?

RAMGOPAL: Well, it depends on where you look. In some villages, in some towns, it's better organized. In India, for instance, the Indian military and other security forces have been helping, but more importantly, there are private groups.

There are Kashmiri separatist groups who are opposed to the Indian government who operate out of the Indian part of Kashmir. They have been at the forefront of the relief and rescue effort.

At the same time, in other places, there have been numerous complaints. In fact, today, when we were driving along the main road close to that line of control, many people accosted us and told us that there are many villages where the bodies have just not been recovered. They still lie buried under rubble.

So it really depends on what is -- which part of the region you travel to. But I can tell you, Betty, at this point, it appears to be slow-going in the effort to reach all of the victims.

NGUYEN: Still a lot of desperation there. Ram Ramgopal phoning in from Srinagar.

Thank you for that update.

Scottsdale, Arizona; Lincoln, Nebraska; Lexington, Kentucky, all have a population more or less equivalent to the Pakistani city of Balakot, which happened to sit at the epicenter of Saturday's earthquake. Now, today, Balakot is gone, but many among its 250,000 population did survive, and now only hope to survive the aftermath.

CNN's Matthew Chance went there and filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: By helicopter we entered Pakistan's nightmare. The northern town of Balakot was home to 250,000 people. But that was last week. Now it's flattened.

On the ground, we were greeted with mayhem. Survivors believing we had food and water for their families scrambled for our bags. We had to struggle to get them back. Then explained we have nothing and had come here alone. That's not what people this desperate want to hear.

Where is the Pakistani army, he screamed. Why aren't they here to save us yet?

Days after this earthquake struck, the people of Balakot, what's left of them, were in shock. Amidst the rubble, the search for survivors seems increasingly hopeless, too. This was once a picturesque tourist town, now they're dragging corpses from the hotels. The stench was gut-wrenching. How many people still lie buried beneath this rubble is anyone's guess? Ask any of the locals and they believe it's thousands of people. Some of them possibly still alive.

But across this whole region, in the heart of the earthquake zone, whole areas are out of reach of the rescue effort. And without professional rescue teams here, it's going to be difficult, if not impossible, to find any more survivors.

Pakistani army helicopters are arriving to ferry some of the injured to hospitals, but locals complain it's not enough. Everybody desperately wants to escape the terrible conditions here. Around the choppers, it's chaos.

And for many in Balakot, what little relief there is comes too late, like Mohammed Hassan (ph), we found burying his family. As the extent of the horror of this South Asian disaster emerges, there will be more tragedy like this and far more tears.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Balakot, in Northern Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: It's hard to watch.

Well, thousands of miles away, an entire country is also struggling to recover from a natural disaster. Officials in Guatemala are concerned about food shortages after days of flooding and landslides.

At least 500 people have been killed, and authorities believe hundreds more were buried alive in a mudslide that smothered the town of Panabaj. The disaster has also ruined many basic crops, like corn and rice.

Improving weather conditions are allowing relief efforts to kick into high gear. Private helicopters have started to fly in food and supplies to some areas. And the U.S. and Mexico have also dispatched choppers to help in the operation.

Well, back in this country, flooding from heavy rains is also causing all sorts of problems in New Hampshire. And even as some communities are trying to dry out, they're dealing with major damage.

Ray Brewer from affiliate WMUR reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAY BREWER, REPORTER, WMUR: Southwestern New Hampshire hit extremely hard. We have some pictures that we're showing to give you an idea of the devastation and destruction that faces the people as the recovery efforts get under way.

All of the major roads, just about, in this section of state have some sort of damage to them. What has happened is, over the course of the weekend, in some cases we got 11 inches of rain. Normally we'll get about three inches of rain in a month.

So it just caused severe devastation. A lot of these major roads were built in the valleys.

Here in the town of Alstead, what happened is, upstream from where we are now, there was a road with about 30 to 40 feet of fill that acted as a makeshift dam. Of course it wasn't designed for that. The pressure built up, and once that road gave way, well, it sent a wall of water cascading through this town. At one point -- if we can come back live her now, and we can show you this bridge here, at one point the residents said that the water was some three feet over this bridge.

There is some good news. In the background you may be able to hear some of the crews starting the reconstruction, and you may be able toll see as well that the lights are back here, downtown Alstead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And that was Ray Brewer, from affiliate WMUR, reporting.

Now to Colorado. It's frozen water that's the problem there. Three people were killed after a massive storm dumped up to 20 inches of snow in parts of the state. Interstate 70 was closed for 21 hours between Denver and Kansas because of that bad weather.

It reopened this morning, but other problems remain. Dozens of schools are closed, and thousands of people are still without power.

So, where is the storm heading next, and is snow still in the forecast? CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras has the weather outlook. (WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: Well, is the United States ready for an outbreak of bird flu? A new report on just how the American healthcare system might respond raises some big questions.

And New York City was getting ready for a possible terror attack, but the threat turned out to be a hoax. Details on that straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: A look at "THE SITUATION ROOM," which is coming up in a little bit.

Now, just four days before Iraq's scheduled constitutional referendum, a series of car bombings killed dozens of Iraqis today. CNN's Aneesh Raman has the latest from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After a period of relative calm, four suicide car bombs detonating throughout Iraq on Tuesday, ahead of Saturday's constitutional referendum. The deadliest incident in the northwestern town of Tal Afar, where a suicide car bomb detonated at a marketplace there. At least 30 people confirmed dead, upwards of 45 others wounded.

And not far from Tal Afar, in the city of Mosul, two suicide car bombs detonating. Between the two, at least one Iraqi civilian was kill. And in the capital city, in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Amaria, largely Sunni-dominated, a suicide car bomb detonating along an Iraqi army convoy.

Iraqi police say at least four people were killed in that incident. Some ight others wounded.

Clear intimidation by the insurgents in the Sunni areas to keep the Sunnis away from the polls on Saturday. Some 15.5 million Iraqis have registered to vote, a notable rise since January, largely because the Sunnis are now invested in this political process.

They of course plan to try and vote down this constitution on Saturday. They see it as document that could lead to the breakup of Iraq, if not all-out civil war.

The numbers that we look for on Saturday as Iraqis in some parts are just now getting a copy of the constitution, is of course how many Iraqis show up, how many turn out to the polls and remain committed to this democratic experiment. The other number is by what margin this constitution either fails or is accepted by the Iraqi people.

If it is passed by a slim margin, which is what the expectations now suggest, it could further distance the Sunnis despite their objections towards this constitution. It could further distance them out of the political fray and further embolden Iraq's insurgency. So those the key questions that will be answered on Saturday.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And CNN military analyst General Don Shepperd has just returned from Iraq. He joins us now.

The first thing I want to ask you is, tell us a little about your travels and why you were there.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Betty, we were part of a military sponsored trip, a group of six of us that do military analysis on the media. And the idea was to go over and visit the commanders, visit the troops, see what thae say, visit the Iraqi civilian elected officials, and also visit the Iraqi security forces. It was a good trip with a close look at all of those things.

NGUYEN: So you got to speak with some of the Iraqi security forces. In your view, how is progress being made on their front? Are they ready to secure the country?

SHEPPERD: Look, Betty, a lot of bad information has been passed on these people as though they are incompetent. These guys are good. I mean, they're very good.

Now, they're no match for U.S. forces, they won't be for a long, long time. But they can do some things that U.S. forces cannot do.

For one thing, they can go get intelligence. And when they get it, they can act on it and stay in presence in the various neighbors where we go in and come out all the time.

They're very, very good, they're very capable. They unit -- one of the units that we visited from the 9th Mechanized Infantry Division in Taji, 75 percent of their recruits have been in the military before.

These are no amateurs here. They're very tough. The training is going well, and I think you're going to see a spread of security by the Iraqis themselves next year. And that's the key to getting this insurgency done, them, not us.

NGUYEN: What about insurgent intimidation? Is that affecting the force, or are Iraqis saying, you know what? We are fed up with these suicide car bombings, we're going to get that information to the Iraq security forces?

SHEPPERD: I think there's some of each. Of course the people are intimidated. That's the intent, especially in the Sunni areas, to keep the Sunnis away from the polls. That's the intent of the insurgents.

But indications are that every time there are job openings, there are lines of people waiting to take those jobs. The jobs in the police force, and also the military, by Iraqi standards, are good- paying jobs. Some of it also is probably patriotism. They have a great sense of being Iraqis, a great sense of nationalism.

NGUYEN: You know, I'm really surprised by that, because a lot of the attacks that we have watched and seen over -- across the news wires are attacks on police stations. So you'd think that intimidation would keep the recruits from coming in, but you say that's not the case.

Why is it? Is it the money, or is it the patriotism?

SHEPPERD: Yes, I think it's some money and some patriotism. But remember, we have built over time these insurgents as 10 feet tall. They are not 10 feet tall.

They're able to do small attacks with IEDs, but you notice they have not taken over police stations or done any large movements actions in the last several months. There's a certain level of violence that will be escalated during the elections, but I think that the Iraqi forces as they come up to speed will slowly squeeze this insurgency out starting next year.

NGUYEN: Well, what needs to be done to get those forces up to speed, as you say?

SHEPPERD: We need to keep training them. We need to train them fast. We need to match them up with U.S. forces so that they operate together for a while. And even after the Iraqi forces are trained, we're going to have to back them up with logistics, equipment, that type of thing.

So we're going to be there for a while doing this, but I think that there's a good possibility you'll see U.S. forces start to draw down after the first of the year sometime.

NGUYEN: Now, I also have to ask you, as you toured the area, you spoke with the people on the ground. Anything surprise you while you were there?

SHEPPERD: Yes, I was really surprised at the capability of these Iraqi security forces. Also, I was surprised by a couple of other things.

The U.S. forces, they're under attack by IEDs. But there's very little direct action against U.S. forces anymore.

Every time insurgents attack the U.S. forces, they really get hammered. And so the level of violence against U.S. forces has gone down, except for the IEDs.

I think they're going to be able to pull off these elections, Betty. And I think -- I don't know how they're going to come out, whether it's going to be rejected or accepted, the constitution, that is. But I think they're going to come off and they're going to do as good a job as they did last time with some violence. NGUYEN: So either way this elections turns out, you think that the forces, the Iraqi forces, specifically, are ready for the aftermath?

SHEPPERD: The Iraqi forces are ready to protect the polling places. They're ready. They're starting to get ready in various areas.

For instance, 20 percent of the territory of Baghdad has already been turned over to Iraqi forces. You're starting to see that spread slowly as they come up to speed.

When they come up to speed, they are matched with U.S. forces, and then they are given their own territory. All of that appears to me to be working.

It's slow, tough work, and we'll be there for a while helping them.

NGUYEN: General Shepperd, as always, it's a pleasure. Thanks. And glad you're back safe.

SHEPPERD: A pleasure, Betty.

NGUYEN: The United States and other countries are coming to the aid of earthquake victims. But will the world be able to meet the demands of so many natural disasters? We will talk about that later on LIVE FROM.

And under the radar. How did this stolen plane land at an airport and no one knew about it? Details on that investigation coming up.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. Coming up, it's not just too little pay or not enough power making workers look for new jobs. Their bosses might want to change as well.

I'll have that story next on LIVE FROM.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Taking a look at stories "Now in the News."

A plot to bomb New York City subways was all just a hoax. That's according to the government sources who say the informant who sparked the subway alert has confessed to making it all up. Heightened security measures put in place in New York Thursday has been since scaled back.

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