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CNN Live Today

Tsunami Disaster; A Survivor's Story

Aired December 28, 2004 - 10:59   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Here's a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
Relief agencies are racing against time to get aid to victims of the tsunami disaster in southeast Asia. The death toll has climbed to at least 33,000 and relief workers are trying to prevent survivors from dying of disease and starvation. We'll have live reports from across the region just ahead.

Insurgents unleashed a string of deadly attacks in Iraq today. Eighteen Iraqi police were killed, including 12 who died in an attack on their station near Tikrit. And a suicide car bomber killed five National Guard -- National Guard troops near Baquba. A top National Guard official escaped a suicide attack in Baghdad.

The CIA says an audiotape said to be from Osama bin Laden appears to be authentic. The message calls on Iraqis to boycott next month's elections and it endorses the terror campaign of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. This would mark the first time that bin Laden has mentioned al- Zarqawi.

Here in the U.S., Lisa Montgomery makes her first appearance in Missouri's federal court today. She is the woman charged with killing an expected mother and cutting her fetus from the womb. A public defender could be appointed to represent Montgomery.

It is just a minute past 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast. It's 10:00 p.m. right now in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where thousands of people are still missing more than 48 hours after a tsunami slammed the coast.

From CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Daryn Kagan. Rick Sanchez is on assignment.

The agony and sheer scope of the catastrophe along the rim of the Indian Ocean is coming into sharper focus this morning. The number of people killed rose dramatically and very quickly today. Thirty-three thousand people are confirmed dead in the great tsunami of 2004. More than half the victims lived in the island of Sri Lanka.

Relief efforts are shifting into high gear today as planeloads of supplies from two dozen countries are expected today and into tomorrow. The U.S., Europe and Japan are pledging millions in aid, but billions will probably be need.

And this hour, firsthand accounts of a tranquil sea that suddenly turned into a mass killer. Some of those who survived the wall of water will tell their stories.

Let's begin our coverage in Indonesia. Corpses filling the streets in the northern tip of Sumatra Island today. One report says the sea water rushed more than two miles inland.

Our Mike Chinoy is live on the videophone -- Mike.

All right. Well, we'll work on getting our videophone working from there.

Let's check in on India, where rescuers are just now reaching the remote Nicobar and Andaman islands. They say the devastation is much worse than expected, and that could push the death toll in India much higher. And we'll get more from there in just a minute.

Meanwhile, western tourists who survived the tsunami in Sri Lanka are returning home to tell their harrowing stories. And they're doing that today. Shulie Goshe from Britain's ITV News has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHULIE GOSHE, ITV NEWS REPORTER (voice-over): An emotional return for Debby Baitson (ph), who witnessed the terrifying forces which turned her holiday hideaway into a disaster zone. Recovering from her ordeal at home today, she described to me how she'd filmed some of the devastation from her hotel on the southeast coast of Sri Lanka.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's absolutely no warning that anything, you know, untoward was going to happen. And then as you can see from the top there, there are actually a few people being swept up from the beach.

Get inside. Come on, guys.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The force of that show of water and speed of the water coming through, I've never seen anything like it. And there was something within my own gut feeling that just made me think, this is terrifying and I don't want to be here.

GOSHE: Debbie's (ph) escape was extraordinary. In the aftermath of the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka, over 10,000 people were left dead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was an awful lot of panic. And we could see the water coming up because of the structure of the hotel. It was cement, but fortunately it was quite open, so the water could flood through to the other side.

We realized it was coming up the stairwells. And so we just were praying that it would stop. And fortunately, it did.

How high is it going to go? OK. I'm getting frightened now.

GOSHE: After a terrifying 12 hours trapped in the hotel, Debbie (ph) and others in her tour group were evacuated to Colombo. From there, they were flown home. She says she's lucky. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were miraculously lucky and, you know, some would say blessed, really. And, you know, we were bystanders really in this horror.

GOSHE: Debbie (ph) praised the staff at her hotel who guided holiday-makers to safety. For them and her this was a dream holiday that turned into a nightmare.

Shulie Goshe, ITV News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And we want to check in off the coast of India now to the Andaman Islands. And Mallika Kapur, our CNN correspondent, standing by for that -- Mallika.

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there.

It seems that an already bad situation in the Andaman and Nicobar islands is progressively getting worse. Officials had earlier said that the death toll is about 3,000, 3,000 were lives were lost following Sunday's disastrous earthquake.

Recently, another top official has said that the death toll could be higher. They're saying -- he came out and talked to the press and said about 5,000 people are missing.

He didn't actually want to put a number on the number of dead people because he said authorities have only found a couple of hundred bodies so far. So he's referring to, say, about 5,000 people are missing. Of course, even this number, 3,000 or 5,000, this number is much higher than what officials had expected on Sunday. The extent of damage and the death toll definitely much more -- much higher than officials or anyone had expected.

It has been -- it's been difficult to get information from these islands. As you know, Andaman and Nicobar islands are about 1,000 kilometers off the main coast of southern India. And these islands, which is an archipelago of about 500 islands clumped together, they're relatively isolated from mainland India. They're quite sheltered. The islands have been slow to modernized.

Communication broke down completely on Sunday. And that means it has been very difficult to get information about the extent of the damage from here. But as the numbers are coming out now, officials are admitting that the death toll and the extent of the damage is much more severe than they had expected -- Daryn.

KAGAN: One report that we're hearing from around the world is how badly children, in particular, were affected. Could you tell us about the children of the island?

KAPUR: Absolutely. You're right, children have been affected very much.

We -- my colleagues have been traveling up and down south India and we have seen several families bury children, children as -- as young as just a couple of months, sometimes a couple of weeks. A lot of people saying that when these tidal waves came in, came into the shore, they ran -- they ran for their own lives and didn't realize that their children and wives -- young children couldn't keep up with them. And they turned around suddenly and realized that the rest of their family hadn't been able to run to safety. So, yes, a lot of young people and a lot of women.

KAGAN: And what's being done with the basics, like just getting clean drinking water?

KAPUR: Yes, that's right. Water is a big problem. There's a lot of contamination.

There is a lot of concern now about -- about disease, about outbreaks. And that is definitely a big concern. People are drinking salt water, sea water in some places, because they just haven't had access to clean drinking water.

Rescue and relief teams are working hard to make sure that they can bring the supplies to people. But there is a lot of disappointment amongst the people here that the rescue efforts just haven't been quick enough and haven't been good enough.

KAGAN: Mallika Kapur from the Andaman Islands off the southern coast of India. Thank you so much.

It looks like we've been able to work out what we need to in order to go back to Indonesia, to the Aceh region, and our Mike Chinoy standing by -- Mike.

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

Well, I'm in Banda Aceh, which is the main town, just 100 miles from the epicenter of that devastating quake on Sunday. It is a city of death.

The tsunami rolled in, going two or three miles inland, devastating many buildings, littering the -- the streets now littered with bodies still three days later. You can drive all over this town and many bodies are just lying in the streets decomposing. The authorities simply overwhelmed.

A couple of hours back I visited a mass grave on the outskirts of the city where about 1,000 bodies had just been piled up, more like a dump than a graveyard. Bulldozers shoveling those bodies into a big pit and covering them over.

There's a lot of concern that the initial devastation of the quake and the tidal wave will now be followed by epidemic outbreaks of all kinds of diseases. People here really dazed and shell shocked still, and the relief effort is just now beginning to get under way -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Mike Chinoy, joining us from Banda Aceh. Thank you for the latest there. We're going to have much more just ahead. Also coming up at the top of the hour on "News from CNN," even those who survived the killer tsunami, death still stalks them. Food, water and shelter all scarce. Next hour we'll talk to the director of CARE about the challenge of getting relief to the people and the places who need it most.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Children affected so much in this story as the tsunami hit all around the world. We're going to have the story of one child in particular. He survived this ordeal, a 2-year-old from Finland. He was founded alone. We will tell you how he was matched up with relatives.

Also, new pictures from one of the region's most exclusive resort areas. The first video we're seeing from the Maldives. We'll have a full report in just a moment.

And widespread concern in the aftermath of the tsunami is contaminated water and food. Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains why the danger is far from over.

You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Well, the death and devastation from the tsunamis in southeast Asia is almost beyond comprehension. But there are also stories of those who managed to escape the giant waves. Linda and Larry Gross are from Encino, California. They were vacationing with other families in Thailand. And Linda Gross is with us on the phone now from Phuket Island.

Linda, hello.

LINDA GROSS, SURVIVED TSUNAMI: Hi.

KAGAN: Well, I imagine this started as a dream vacation for you and your husband and your kids.

GROSS: It did. It is absolutely a beautiful hotel at a beautiful pristine beach, one where you think it's safe to go swimming and playing all day long. And we were doing that for a couple of days before the tsunami hit.

KAGAN: Tell us where you and your family were when the tsunami hit.

GROSS: Well we're here with four families. And the men were off playing golf and the women and the kids were having breakfast.

And, you know, the kids were kind of getting antsy and wanted to go to the beach. And we, of course, were still sipping our coffee, and said, "Oh, yes, we'll go in a minute. We'll go in a minute." And because we weren't down at the beach when it happened, we were fine. But thankfully it hit pretty early in the morning. It was only 9:00 in the morning, and I don't think there were a lot of people at the beach.

But we were told that the manager of this hotel was at the beach at the time. And he saw the ocean recede, just dramatically, like a kilometer out to sea. Just all of a sudden get sucked out. And he had the wherewithal to just scream at everybody on the beach, "Get off the beach!"

And whoever was there ran. And so nobody was hurt here at this hotel.

And we were in our room having breakfast. We did not know anything about it. We didn't hear anything. We did not feel the earthquake that had hit an hour before.

And really, we had no idea that it had even occurred until we got to the lobby and looked down at the beach. And everything that had been on the beach was gone. All the deck chairs and the umbrellas and all that stuff were gone.

The gymnasium of this hotel is down at beach level and it was wiped out. And the ocean was just all churned up and full of -- full of debris and brown water, where normally it's crystal clear and turquoise. But we still didn't really know just how devastating it had been. In our little spot here, it looked -- it looked churned up, but we couldn't tell what had happened.

KAGAN: Then how were you able to find out that you were actually part of what is basically a worldwide event?

GROSS: Well, we immediately when the to the Internet and turned on BBC. And we started watching it and started realizing the devastation.

As I said, our husbands weren't here. They were playing golf. And they did not hear anything about it.

And when they finished their game, they got in a taxi cab. And the taxi cab driver said to them, "There has been a terrible tsunami and every -- and all the beaches have been destroyed." And you can imagine their panic.

KAGAN: Right, thinking that their families were on the beach.

GROSS: But as they drove -- yes. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

KAGAN: I'm sorry. I don't mean to step on you with the delay with the long distance phone call. But your family now has stayed there in the days following. What have you done and what have you been doing with your kids?

GROSS: Well, the first day we just stayed put. Everyone was kind of afraid to go anywhere. The next day we went, all of the families together, with a bunch of the kids. And we went to a store, kind of like a Wal-Mart. And we just started stocking up on T-shirts and underwear and some basic food supplies, like cans of tuna.

And we went to -- we kind of looked around the island to try to find where we could help out. And it turns out that in Phuket Town, which is the center of the island, is where most of the relief efforts are focused.

And so we just drove in there in a van and we said, "Hey, we brought all this stuff. We wanted to help." And they were pretty organized in their relief efforts and told us where to give it. We started handing things out to people in need.

It was a pretty devastating scene. You know, you have people walking around wounded and dazed. And there are boards set up with lists and lists and lists of names of people who are missing.

We went back again today with more supplies. And today, there are pictures of dead people that are blown up on these bulletin boards with no sayings. You know, "Identity unknown. If you know who this is, please contact the authorities."

KAGAN: And how do you explain this to your kids? Here it was you packed them up to take them to a vacation paradise and they're getting an education in a worldwide disaster.

GROSS: Yes, it's not what we expected. But, you know, there are moments in life that just come up, and you use them as -- but, you know, someone I know called this a teachable moment.

And you teach your children that we're so lucky and we can't take credit for being alive. It was really just luck. And so we have to help the others who need it.

One of the men in our group is a doctor. He went to the hospital today and just walked in and started volunteering. And he said, "Aside from the injuries, which are devastating, it's just heartbreaking."

There are so many families that are broken up. There are parents looking for children. There are children with no parents. There's a husband looking for a wife. And, you know, people who say they were having breakfast, and the next thing they know, they're gone.

KAGAN: And their whole world changes or is swept away. Linda, how long do you think you'll stay? And do you anticipate problems getting back to Los Angeles?

GROSS: You know, our original plan was to come home on Saturday after New Year's Eve, to come home on the 1st. And right now, we're planning to stay.

You know, we're helping. And as surprising as it may sound, our hotel is untouched. And the airport is pretty busy getting people who need to get out of here out, people who have nowhere to stay or people who are injured.

We hear that there is military aircraft taking the injured out. And we kind of felt like, you know, let's just stay clear of there and let the people who need to get out get out first.

KAGAN: Sounds like a good plan. Well, as we said, not the vacation you booked originally for your family, but one I'm sure you will never forget.

Linda Gross from Encino, California. Thanks for sharing your family's story. And we wish you well in getting back to Los Angeles.

GROSS: Thank you so much.

KAGAN: Thank you so much.

And now we're going to go live and see the Indonesian ambassador to the United Nations. Let's listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The death toll, I believe, more than 3,000. We have been informed that the death toll has increased to more than 5,000. And it's still being increased.

We are still waiting for the information from the -- from the affected areas. Of course -- of course, we will update on the figures. And also, our embassy in Washington will update on the situation on the ground.

At the national level, the president himself, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has visited the affected areas. He has visited Banda Aceh. And Indonesia's government has established the task force at the coordinating minister and also at the level of ministers, the foreign ministry. And we are now in close coordination with the United Nations, and the United Nations team is already in Indonesia at the moment. And again, we are in close cooperation with the United Nations and other -- other international communities, as well as governments.

In terms of the items that most urgently needed, it's food, including instant food and baby food, body bags, fresh water, generator sets, medical supplies, blankets, mosquito nets, water buckets, clothing and beds. Again, our embassy in Washington and also our mission in New York is coordinating to the various interested parties who wants to assist, to give their assistance. The Indonesian government welcome the assistance and, of course, it should be also coordinated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are there areas that still have not been reached?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe so. But again, we are still waiting for the -- for the assessment from Jakarta on this purpose.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Which areas of Sumatra you haven't reached yet? Mr. Egeland said there are areas in Sumatra which are still isolated and cannot be helped yet. Is that the west coast or is that the east coast?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The affected areas includes (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Island. It's not a big island.

The problem is communication. The problem that we...

KAGAN: We've been listening in to the Indonesian ambassador to the United Nations talking about the most pressing needs for the people in his country in the wake of the tsunami. Things like baby food, body bags, water, generators, mosquito nets and blankets. And the embassy in Washington, D.C. trying to help coordinate, get some of those needs to Indonesia.

Well, you might think that something like the devastating tsunami could never happen here in the U.S. But scientists, at least some of them, disagree. You're going to hear where it could happen and how bad it might be.

That's just ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And we have more news coming out of the United Nations. Jan Egeland, he is the emergency relief coordinator for the United Nations, giving a news conference, or just making some statements just a little bit ago. First of all, let's hear what he has for the newest figures available for this disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAN EGELAND, U.N. RELIEF COORDINATOR: Already the number of confirmed dead may be around 40,000. But it's still rising.

Several areas have not yet been assessed or even visited. This is both along the Sumatra coastline. There are islands in Maldives that no one has had access to since the tsunami hit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Also, there was a controversy coming out of the United Nations yesterday. Jan Egeland apparently quoted as saying the United States had not given enough aid in immediate response. Today, he backtracked on some of those remarks. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EGELAND: The international assistance that has come and been pledged from the United States, from Europe and form countries in the region has also been very generous. India, for example, is an affected country. It's also a donor country.

I have been misinterpreted when I yesterday said that my belief that rich countries in general can be more generous. This has nothing to do with any particular country or the response to this emergency in early days. And the response has so far has been overwhelmingly positive. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: One of the hardest hit areas, Sri Lanka. The death toll there expected eventually to climb over 20,000. We're going to go live to Sri Lanka just ahead after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired December 28, 2004 - 10:59   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Here's a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
Relief agencies are racing against time to get aid to victims of the tsunami disaster in southeast Asia. The death toll has climbed to at least 33,000 and relief workers are trying to prevent survivors from dying of disease and starvation. We'll have live reports from across the region just ahead.

Insurgents unleashed a string of deadly attacks in Iraq today. Eighteen Iraqi police were killed, including 12 who died in an attack on their station near Tikrit. And a suicide car bomber killed five National Guard -- National Guard troops near Baquba. A top National Guard official escaped a suicide attack in Baghdad.

The CIA says an audiotape said to be from Osama bin Laden appears to be authentic. The message calls on Iraqis to boycott next month's elections and it endorses the terror campaign of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. This would mark the first time that bin Laden has mentioned al- Zarqawi.

Here in the U.S., Lisa Montgomery makes her first appearance in Missouri's federal court today. She is the woman charged with killing an expected mother and cutting her fetus from the womb. A public defender could be appointed to represent Montgomery.

It is just a minute past 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast. It's 10:00 p.m. right now in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where thousands of people are still missing more than 48 hours after a tsunami slammed the coast.

From CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Daryn Kagan. Rick Sanchez is on assignment.

The agony and sheer scope of the catastrophe along the rim of the Indian Ocean is coming into sharper focus this morning. The number of people killed rose dramatically and very quickly today. Thirty-three thousand people are confirmed dead in the great tsunami of 2004. More than half the victims lived in the island of Sri Lanka.

Relief efforts are shifting into high gear today as planeloads of supplies from two dozen countries are expected today and into tomorrow. The U.S., Europe and Japan are pledging millions in aid, but billions will probably be need.

And this hour, firsthand accounts of a tranquil sea that suddenly turned into a mass killer. Some of those who survived the wall of water will tell their stories.

Let's begin our coverage in Indonesia. Corpses filling the streets in the northern tip of Sumatra Island today. One report says the sea water rushed more than two miles inland.

Our Mike Chinoy is live on the videophone -- Mike.

All right. Well, we'll work on getting our videophone working from there.

Let's check in on India, where rescuers are just now reaching the remote Nicobar and Andaman islands. They say the devastation is much worse than expected, and that could push the death toll in India much higher. And we'll get more from there in just a minute.

Meanwhile, western tourists who survived the tsunami in Sri Lanka are returning home to tell their harrowing stories. And they're doing that today. Shulie Goshe from Britain's ITV News has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHULIE GOSHE, ITV NEWS REPORTER (voice-over): An emotional return for Debby Baitson (ph), who witnessed the terrifying forces which turned her holiday hideaway into a disaster zone. Recovering from her ordeal at home today, she described to me how she'd filmed some of the devastation from her hotel on the southeast coast of Sri Lanka.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's absolutely no warning that anything, you know, untoward was going to happen. And then as you can see from the top there, there are actually a few people being swept up from the beach.

Get inside. Come on, guys.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The force of that show of water and speed of the water coming through, I've never seen anything like it. And there was something within my own gut feeling that just made me think, this is terrifying and I don't want to be here.

GOSHE: Debbie's (ph) escape was extraordinary. In the aftermath of the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka, over 10,000 people were left dead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was an awful lot of panic. And we could see the water coming up because of the structure of the hotel. It was cement, but fortunately it was quite open, so the water could flood through to the other side.

We realized it was coming up the stairwells. And so we just were praying that it would stop. And fortunately, it did.

How high is it going to go? OK. I'm getting frightened now.

GOSHE: After a terrifying 12 hours trapped in the hotel, Debbie (ph) and others in her tour group were evacuated to Colombo. From there, they were flown home. She says she's lucky. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were miraculously lucky and, you know, some would say blessed, really. And, you know, we were bystanders really in this horror.

GOSHE: Debbie (ph) praised the staff at her hotel who guided holiday-makers to safety. For them and her this was a dream holiday that turned into a nightmare.

Shulie Goshe, ITV News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And we want to check in off the coast of India now to the Andaman Islands. And Mallika Kapur, our CNN correspondent, standing by for that -- Mallika.

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there.

It seems that an already bad situation in the Andaman and Nicobar islands is progressively getting worse. Officials had earlier said that the death toll is about 3,000, 3,000 were lives were lost following Sunday's disastrous earthquake.

Recently, another top official has said that the death toll could be higher. They're saying -- he came out and talked to the press and said about 5,000 people are missing.

He didn't actually want to put a number on the number of dead people because he said authorities have only found a couple of hundred bodies so far. So he's referring to, say, about 5,000 people are missing. Of course, even this number, 3,000 or 5,000, this number is much higher than what officials had expected on Sunday. The extent of damage and the death toll definitely much more -- much higher than officials or anyone had expected.

It has been -- it's been difficult to get information from these islands. As you know, Andaman and Nicobar islands are about 1,000 kilometers off the main coast of southern India. And these islands, which is an archipelago of about 500 islands clumped together, they're relatively isolated from mainland India. They're quite sheltered. The islands have been slow to modernized.

Communication broke down completely on Sunday. And that means it has been very difficult to get information about the extent of the damage from here. But as the numbers are coming out now, officials are admitting that the death toll and the extent of the damage is much more severe than they had expected -- Daryn.

KAGAN: One report that we're hearing from around the world is how badly children, in particular, were affected. Could you tell us about the children of the island?

KAPUR: Absolutely. You're right, children have been affected very much.

We -- my colleagues have been traveling up and down south India and we have seen several families bury children, children as -- as young as just a couple of months, sometimes a couple of weeks. A lot of people saying that when these tidal waves came in, came into the shore, they ran -- they ran for their own lives and didn't realize that their children and wives -- young children couldn't keep up with them. And they turned around suddenly and realized that the rest of their family hadn't been able to run to safety. So, yes, a lot of young people and a lot of women.

KAGAN: And what's being done with the basics, like just getting clean drinking water?

KAPUR: Yes, that's right. Water is a big problem. There's a lot of contamination.

There is a lot of concern now about -- about disease, about outbreaks. And that is definitely a big concern. People are drinking salt water, sea water in some places, because they just haven't had access to clean drinking water.

Rescue and relief teams are working hard to make sure that they can bring the supplies to people. But there is a lot of disappointment amongst the people here that the rescue efforts just haven't been quick enough and haven't been good enough.

KAGAN: Mallika Kapur from the Andaman Islands off the southern coast of India. Thank you so much.

It looks like we've been able to work out what we need to in order to go back to Indonesia, to the Aceh region, and our Mike Chinoy standing by -- Mike.

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

Well, I'm in Banda Aceh, which is the main town, just 100 miles from the epicenter of that devastating quake on Sunday. It is a city of death.

The tsunami rolled in, going two or three miles inland, devastating many buildings, littering the -- the streets now littered with bodies still three days later. You can drive all over this town and many bodies are just lying in the streets decomposing. The authorities simply overwhelmed.

A couple of hours back I visited a mass grave on the outskirts of the city where about 1,000 bodies had just been piled up, more like a dump than a graveyard. Bulldozers shoveling those bodies into a big pit and covering them over.

There's a lot of concern that the initial devastation of the quake and the tidal wave will now be followed by epidemic outbreaks of all kinds of diseases. People here really dazed and shell shocked still, and the relief effort is just now beginning to get under way -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Mike Chinoy, joining us from Banda Aceh. Thank you for the latest there. We're going to have much more just ahead. Also coming up at the top of the hour on "News from CNN," even those who survived the killer tsunami, death still stalks them. Food, water and shelter all scarce. Next hour we'll talk to the director of CARE about the challenge of getting relief to the people and the places who need it most.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Children affected so much in this story as the tsunami hit all around the world. We're going to have the story of one child in particular. He survived this ordeal, a 2-year-old from Finland. He was founded alone. We will tell you how he was matched up with relatives.

Also, new pictures from one of the region's most exclusive resort areas. The first video we're seeing from the Maldives. We'll have a full report in just a moment.

And widespread concern in the aftermath of the tsunami is contaminated water and food. Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains why the danger is far from over.

You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Well, the death and devastation from the tsunamis in southeast Asia is almost beyond comprehension. But there are also stories of those who managed to escape the giant waves. Linda and Larry Gross are from Encino, California. They were vacationing with other families in Thailand. And Linda Gross is with us on the phone now from Phuket Island.

Linda, hello.

LINDA GROSS, SURVIVED TSUNAMI: Hi.

KAGAN: Well, I imagine this started as a dream vacation for you and your husband and your kids.

GROSS: It did. It is absolutely a beautiful hotel at a beautiful pristine beach, one where you think it's safe to go swimming and playing all day long. And we were doing that for a couple of days before the tsunami hit.

KAGAN: Tell us where you and your family were when the tsunami hit.

GROSS: Well we're here with four families. And the men were off playing golf and the women and the kids were having breakfast.

And, you know, the kids were kind of getting antsy and wanted to go to the beach. And we, of course, were still sipping our coffee, and said, "Oh, yes, we'll go in a minute. We'll go in a minute." And because we weren't down at the beach when it happened, we were fine. But thankfully it hit pretty early in the morning. It was only 9:00 in the morning, and I don't think there were a lot of people at the beach.

But we were told that the manager of this hotel was at the beach at the time. And he saw the ocean recede, just dramatically, like a kilometer out to sea. Just all of a sudden get sucked out. And he had the wherewithal to just scream at everybody on the beach, "Get off the beach!"

And whoever was there ran. And so nobody was hurt here at this hotel.

And we were in our room having breakfast. We did not know anything about it. We didn't hear anything. We did not feel the earthquake that had hit an hour before.

And really, we had no idea that it had even occurred until we got to the lobby and looked down at the beach. And everything that had been on the beach was gone. All the deck chairs and the umbrellas and all that stuff were gone.

The gymnasium of this hotel is down at beach level and it was wiped out. And the ocean was just all churned up and full of -- full of debris and brown water, where normally it's crystal clear and turquoise. But we still didn't really know just how devastating it had been. In our little spot here, it looked -- it looked churned up, but we couldn't tell what had happened.

KAGAN: Then how were you able to find out that you were actually part of what is basically a worldwide event?

GROSS: Well, we immediately when the to the Internet and turned on BBC. And we started watching it and started realizing the devastation.

As I said, our husbands weren't here. They were playing golf. And they did not hear anything about it.

And when they finished their game, they got in a taxi cab. And the taxi cab driver said to them, "There has been a terrible tsunami and every -- and all the beaches have been destroyed." And you can imagine their panic.

KAGAN: Right, thinking that their families were on the beach.

GROSS: But as they drove -- yes. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

KAGAN: I'm sorry. I don't mean to step on you with the delay with the long distance phone call. But your family now has stayed there in the days following. What have you done and what have you been doing with your kids?

GROSS: Well, the first day we just stayed put. Everyone was kind of afraid to go anywhere. The next day we went, all of the families together, with a bunch of the kids. And we went to a store, kind of like a Wal-Mart. And we just started stocking up on T-shirts and underwear and some basic food supplies, like cans of tuna.

And we went to -- we kind of looked around the island to try to find where we could help out. And it turns out that in Phuket Town, which is the center of the island, is where most of the relief efforts are focused.

And so we just drove in there in a van and we said, "Hey, we brought all this stuff. We wanted to help." And they were pretty organized in their relief efforts and told us where to give it. We started handing things out to people in need.

It was a pretty devastating scene. You know, you have people walking around wounded and dazed. And there are boards set up with lists and lists and lists of names of people who are missing.

We went back again today with more supplies. And today, there are pictures of dead people that are blown up on these bulletin boards with no sayings. You know, "Identity unknown. If you know who this is, please contact the authorities."

KAGAN: And how do you explain this to your kids? Here it was you packed them up to take them to a vacation paradise and they're getting an education in a worldwide disaster.

GROSS: Yes, it's not what we expected. But, you know, there are moments in life that just come up, and you use them as -- but, you know, someone I know called this a teachable moment.

And you teach your children that we're so lucky and we can't take credit for being alive. It was really just luck. And so we have to help the others who need it.

One of the men in our group is a doctor. He went to the hospital today and just walked in and started volunteering. And he said, "Aside from the injuries, which are devastating, it's just heartbreaking."

There are so many families that are broken up. There are parents looking for children. There are children with no parents. There's a husband looking for a wife. And, you know, people who say they were having breakfast, and the next thing they know, they're gone.

KAGAN: And their whole world changes or is swept away. Linda, how long do you think you'll stay? And do you anticipate problems getting back to Los Angeles?

GROSS: You know, our original plan was to come home on Saturday after New Year's Eve, to come home on the 1st. And right now, we're planning to stay.

You know, we're helping. And as surprising as it may sound, our hotel is untouched. And the airport is pretty busy getting people who need to get out of here out, people who have nowhere to stay or people who are injured.

We hear that there is military aircraft taking the injured out. And we kind of felt like, you know, let's just stay clear of there and let the people who need to get out get out first.

KAGAN: Sounds like a good plan. Well, as we said, not the vacation you booked originally for your family, but one I'm sure you will never forget.

Linda Gross from Encino, California. Thanks for sharing your family's story. And we wish you well in getting back to Los Angeles.

GROSS: Thank you so much.

KAGAN: Thank you so much.

And now we're going to go live and see the Indonesian ambassador to the United Nations. Let's listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The death toll, I believe, more than 3,000. We have been informed that the death toll has increased to more than 5,000. And it's still being increased.

We are still waiting for the information from the -- from the affected areas. Of course -- of course, we will update on the figures. And also, our embassy in Washington will update on the situation on the ground.

At the national level, the president himself, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has visited the affected areas. He has visited Banda Aceh. And Indonesia's government has established the task force at the coordinating minister and also at the level of ministers, the foreign ministry. And we are now in close coordination with the United Nations, and the United Nations team is already in Indonesia at the moment. And again, we are in close cooperation with the United Nations and other -- other international communities, as well as governments.

In terms of the items that most urgently needed, it's food, including instant food and baby food, body bags, fresh water, generator sets, medical supplies, blankets, mosquito nets, water buckets, clothing and beds. Again, our embassy in Washington and also our mission in New York is coordinating to the various interested parties who wants to assist, to give their assistance. The Indonesian government welcome the assistance and, of course, it should be also coordinated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are there areas that still have not been reached?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe so. But again, we are still waiting for the -- for the assessment from Jakarta on this purpose.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Which areas of Sumatra you haven't reached yet? Mr. Egeland said there are areas in Sumatra which are still isolated and cannot be helped yet. Is that the west coast or is that the east coast?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The affected areas includes (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Island. It's not a big island.

The problem is communication. The problem that we...

KAGAN: We've been listening in to the Indonesian ambassador to the United Nations talking about the most pressing needs for the people in his country in the wake of the tsunami. Things like baby food, body bags, water, generators, mosquito nets and blankets. And the embassy in Washington, D.C. trying to help coordinate, get some of those needs to Indonesia.

Well, you might think that something like the devastating tsunami could never happen here in the U.S. But scientists, at least some of them, disagree. You're going to hear where it could happen and how bad it might be.

That's just ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And we have more news coming out of the United Nations. Jan Egeland, he is the emergency relief coordinator for the United Nations, giving a news conference, or just making some statements just a little bit ago. First of all, let's hear what he has for the newest figures available for this disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAN EGELAND, U.N. RELIEF COORDINATOR: Already the number of confirmed dead may be around 40,000. But it's still rising.

Several areas have not yet been assessed or even visited. This is both along the Sumatra coastline. There are islands in Maldives that no one has had access to since the tsunami hit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Also, there was a controversy coming out of the United Nations yesterday. Jan Egeland apparently quoted as saying the United States had not given enough aid in immediate response. Today, he backtracked on some of those remarks. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EGELAND: The international assistance that has come and been pledged from the United States, from Europe and form countries in the region has also been very generous. India, for example, is an affected country. It's also a donor country.

I have been misinterpreted when I yesterday said that my belief that rich countries in general can be more generous. This has nothing to do with any particular country or the response to this emergency in early days. And the response has so far has been overwhelmingly positive. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: One of the hardest hit areas, Sri Lanka. The death toll there expected eventually to climb over 20,000. We're going to go live to Sri Lanka just ahead after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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