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Relief Workers Arrive on Scene in Many of Areas Hardest Hit; Disease One of Biggest Concerns Right Now

Aired December 28, 2004 - 11:30   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR, CNN LIVE TODAY: We are right at the half hour. I'm Daryn Kagan. Good morning once again. Let's take a look at what's happening now in the news.
Graphic images of the toll of last weekend's Tsunami as a number of people killed. The number rose dramatically this morning to 33,000. The U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia are rushing supplies to nations along the rim (ph) of the Indian Ocean.

New violence in Iraq, 18 police officers, and five Iraqi National Guard troops were killed today in attacks in three cities. The bloodiest attack came at this police station in Tikrit.

Ukraine's establishment candidate is vowing to challenge the presidential vote in court. Victor Yanukovych (ph) lost the rerun election by eight percentage points. He refuses to concede, though, to Victor Yushchenko (ph).

And now, to the hardest hit area of the tsunami, Sri Lanka. Almost half of those killed in this disaster live on the island off of India's coast. Our Hugh Remington joins us. He's in the capital of Colombo. Hugh?

HUGH RIMINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, the death toll has climbed again in the last few hours. The official death toll over 18,000. Sri Lankan authorities advising that it's likely to go still higher again. As high as 25,000 before this is done. We know up to 1,000 people died in a single incident. This was a train that was simply wiped off the tracks. In fact, the very tracks themselves were wiped away by the Tsunami.

There were 1,000 people on board, eight carriages. Police and medical authorities here in the capital of Colombo say they do not expect to see any survivors emerging from that train. The hospitals here have been empty of doctors in the capital, Colombo, pretty much emptied of doctors, 125 have been flown off air lifted into the regional hospitals. The district hospitals, that are bearing the brunt of this emergency medical work.

There, the doctors arrived to discover buildings that are often shattered, no electricity, no water, and overwhelming demand. They say conditions are so grim that most doctors can last there only 48 hours, and then they have to be rotated out to be stole (ph) fresh doctors going in. Daryn,

KAGAN: Hugh Rimington from Colombo, Sri Lanka. Thank you for that report.

From the massive scope of the Tsunami disaster to the devastation in just one Sri Lankan town, our Anderson Cooper takes a closer look at the scenes being repeated in cities across towns in the region.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): This is merely the aftermath of the disaster. Water was hurdled ashore by the Tsunami, smashing, crushing, undermining, and then carrying away as it rushed back to the sea. The sound is harrowing as well. A constant dim of wailing, crying, and shouting, pierced now and again by sirens.

This is Galle, Sri Lanka, home to some 84,000 people. A port city and provincial full of buses. Buses that became islands in the flood and unsafe islands at that. Watch the water capsizes one bus; it sinks in a matter of seconds. Those aboard scramble onto a precarious pile of debris.

If you were lucky, you found a roof top to watch it all go by. Others not so lucky had to cling for their lives. Some were swept away. We don't know what happened to them. Galle has never seen anything like this. The Portuguese came here in the 1500s, then the Dutch, then the British. Then the tourists and now the water. It looks like the aftermath of a hurricane.

Reports say a 30-foot wave watched over the ramparts of the Old Dutch fort. See those long red objects near the top of your screen? They're heavy railroad cars, passenger cars, toppled and scattered. There's a civil war in Sri Lanka both the government and the rebels are appealing for help. Galle is in the government-controlled part of the island. Officials declared a national disaster. Some even came to visit.

Relief centers opened complete with food and sad, peaceful music. Hospitals were overwhelmed with injured and morgues with the dead. This is just one city's story. These scenes from Galle are being repeated in countless cities and towns all around the rim (ph) the Indian Ocean.

Survivors salvage what they can. Others just stare. They're simply aren't words for this. In the background, if you listen closely, you can hear birds' songs breaking the silence. And the roar of the waves.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And that report from Anderson Cooper.

Relief workers have now arrived on the scene in many of the areas hit hardest by the massive Tsunamis. One of the biggest concerns right now is disease. Our Sanjay Gupta reports the situation is an epidemic just waiting to happen to happen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Relief workers have arrived on the scene in many of the hardest hit areas. They're assisting with food and water and passing out blankets to those left homeless from the Tsunami. United Nations is working to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) efforts of nations offering aid.

They are warning that the rebuilding process will take years and billions of dollars. This in addition to the emergency aid that is now needed.

JAN EGELAND, U.N. RELIEF COORDINATION: The worst devastation is that caused to water and sanitation. Drinking water for millions have been polluted. Disease will be a result of that and also acute respiratory disease that always comes in the wake of these kinds of massive disasters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The larger task at hand will be keeping the survivors alive. The millions of people who were displaced and vulnerable in these unsanitary conditions to killer diseases like diarrhea and upper respiratory tract infections.

GUPTA: On the ground, emergency aid workers and survivors tell terrible tales.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All we heard was this mighty bang. And the next thing, a bunch of flooding, it was up to there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was under water. The water was above me. I was very -- I thought I will die.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no power. There's no petrol. So there is no movement, no support getting through to help the injured. And I believe that there are bodies that need to be dealt with, identified, and transported out of there. Because soon I guess with this heat, the sanitation problems will arise.

GUPTA: As the days go by, health officials worry that the dire situation that exists with lack of food, water, and shelter will only get worse. Despite the work of thousands of people, trying to help. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Sanjay filed that report before he took off for Sri Lanka. He's on his way to see firsthand the aftermath of Tsunami and report on the health risks there. His live reports are expected to start tonight right here on CNN.

Well could the killer tsunamis that devastated parts of Asia happen here in the U.S.? CNN Adaora Udoji reports they already they already have.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The terror of a tsunami triggered by an earthquake swept Valdez, Alaska off the map on Good Friday in 1964. More than 100 people were killed down the coast to California. Since 1946, tsunamis have hit Alaska four times causing death and destruction all the way to Hawaii.

Today, scientists worry a tsunami could strike North America again. They worry about active fault lines causing earthquakes in the west, a triggering event for monster waves. Government officials worry too, which is why a federal warning system also monitors other potential triggers, volcanoes, meteorites and landslides.

D.L. JOHNSON, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: The warning systems are in their infancy. We're getting better and better at informing the public.

UDOJI: The East Coast hasn't been completely spared. A tidal wave bashed Newfoundland in 1929 killing 27. Another hit Puerto Rico in 1918.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have big earthquakes here. We're not going to see that big type of tsunami.

UDOJI: But there are theories the East Coast may still be vulnerable. Some argue if the volcano in the Canary Islands, near Africa, suddenly erupted and collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean, it could send violent ripples to the U.S. coast within nine hours.

Other scientists worry about gasses escaping the continental crust, 50 to 100 miles off the coast of North Carolina. The idea of an explosive shift, argues Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Weissel, leads to troubling questions.

PROFESSOR JEFFREY WEISSEL, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: We were surprised and everybody is surprised about the amount of gas that we found and we don't understand the full implications for exciting future submarine landslides which then might produce dangerous tsunamis.

UDOJI: Scientists say they just can't yet connect all the dots but many still believe the West Coast has a greater risk of getting hit.

Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Watching the scenes of devastation from South Asia are more than just a little depressing. One bright spot, though, for you, this lost little boy, his story is just ahead.

And on another note, the message -- the latest message from Osama bin Laden, hear what makes this one different when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Want to check in now on CNN's security watch. The CIA says it's moderately confident that the speaker on a new audio tape is indeed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. On the tape, the speaker urges Iraqis to boycott next month's elects and he endorses the terror campaign in Iraq of Abu Musab al Zarqawi.

The Jordanian-borne insurgent is suspected in kidnappings, beheadings, and bombings across Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSAMA BIN LADEN, (through translator): We ask God to accept this unity and bless it. And for all to know the dear (UNINTELLIGIBLE) brother Abu Musab al Zarqawi is the prince of al-Qaeda and Iraq. We ask all our organizations brethren to listen to him and obey him in his good deeds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Kagan: If the tape is indeed authentic, it's the first time that bin Laden has, at least in public, linked himself to Zarqawi's terror group. Earlier this morning, I had a chance to talk with CNN Terrorism Analyst Peter Bergen and ask him what he makes of this alliance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: I don't think it makes a huge amount of difference in what's going on in the ground in Iraq. It is worse if Zarqawi is able to plug into Al-Qaeda's global network and move his operation (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Iraq Jordan area where he has previously already operated into something more global. That's worrisome.

Bin Laden's call for a boycott of the upcoming elects in Iraq. I think the kind of people who may be persuaded by that have already made up their minds to boycott the elections, Sunni fundamentalists. A number of Sunnis have already indicated they don't want to be part of the elections.

So I don't think that call will make a huge amount of difference in terms of people not voting.

KAGAN: Let's talk about the timing now. Why would Osama bin Laden come out and make this statement now?

BERGEN: I don't know. I mean, it's one of a series of statements we're getting from him. We're actually getting more statements from him. He's, you know, trying to insert himself into world events. He did that before the presidential election in this country.

He's made, you know, videotaped statements appealing to the American people. To change their foreign policy. You know, he seems to want to position himself as sort of a big picture politician. I think this tape is part of that.

KAGAN: And then something you were touching on there, the frequency. We just saw the videotape from Osama bin Laden within the last few weeks. Now we're hearing from him yet again. BERGEN: Yes. By my count this is number 30 videotape or audio tape from either bin Laden or Ayman Zawahiri (ph) is number two. That's a pretty extraordinary number if you think about it since 9/11. That's an average of once every six weeks. The tapes are now coming even more frequently.

It seems in me, a massive failure of intelligence gathering that the United States intelligence agencies and others don't seem to be able to trace back the chain of custody of these tapes. After all, that's a sure-fire method of eventually finding these guys. Clearly, Ayman al Zawahiri (ph) the number two in al-Qaeda, and bin Laden feel rather secure.

Because they're actually releasing more tapes rather than less tapes at the moment.

KAGAN: That's part of it, with the frequency, but the other part, what about in terms of the message he's sending out, and the need he feels to communicate with his followers?

BERGEN: I think, Daryn, the overall message he's giving is, you know is usually kill Americans, kill westerners, kill Jews. He's been a little bit more less calls for violence, more calls for Americans to change their foreign policy. In this -- I haven't seen the full transcript of this new tape.

It doesn't appear that it's calling for specifically for attacks against Americans. It is calling for this new alliance between Zarqawi in Iraq and bin Laden wherever he is. So I think it's one of a pattern of tape where's bin Laden is positioning himself as more of a you know, the leader of a wider political movement, rather than simply just as a terrorist.

KAGAN: Peter Bergen, thank you for your insight this morning.

BERGEN: Thank you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Among the thousands of missing in the aftermath of the tsunami in Asia, a single toddler lost and then found. His story and how he's reunited with his family when we come back on "CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The islands of the Maldives are barely above sea level. When the tsunami hit, one official said the Maldives may have completely disappeared from the earth for a few moments. When the water receded, the devastation to the popular tourist area was all too apparent. We get the story from ITN (ph) reporter Martin Misler (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN MISLER, ITN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Paradise shattered in a matter of minutes. The Maldives without warning overwhelmed by the sea. This place is enormously vulnerable. No part of the territory sits more than eight feet above sea level. They have built defenses, but they were no match for nature's power this time.

Seaplanes, normally chartered to very rich tourists around these (UNINTELLIGIBLE) are now being used for relief aid. We flew with one team to see the devastation for ourselves. This is (UNINTELLIGIBLE), one of the world's most exclusive resorts. Guests here stay in five- star lodges on stilts in the ocean. Yesterday, they were hammered by a wall of water three meters high. Some still stand, but they're ruined.

On a neighboring island, another resort, flattened by the waves.

MISLER, (on camera): The Maldives is a collection of 1,200 tiny islands. Almost all of them have been affected in some way by this, many wiped out completely. It will be weeks before the people here get a real idea of how much damage has been done and the cost of repairs.

MISLER, (voice over): Tourism is the country's life flood. That industry has certainly been damaged. This year's video shows the scene moments after the tsunami hit. At the island's main airport today, hundreds of British tourists waiting to leave. Some injured, many have been incredibly lucky.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The water just came up like a gigantic wave and took all of the deck. The deck came flying in through the window and I said, let's get out of here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Started off being able to stand up in it and then cupboards and chairs and mattresses started coming at you. I got out of the way and I ended up on some sort of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) going out to sea. There was people on the beach in the early morning just being washed out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We climbed up the tree while the water was still breaking right at our feet, the waves. We head up the tree and went higher and higher until we were right at the top. And we couldn't go any higher. We just waited until the water level eventually dropped.

MISLER: Most of the tourists are now heading home, leaving behind a shattered country where the repair work is only just beginning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Other news now, southern Asia is a vast region filled today with grief and mourning for 33,000 victims of the sea. CNN's Veronica Pedrosa has a story from Hong Kong. Before we watch, we want to caution you, her report contains very strong images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA PEDROSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice over): Her name is Vella. She lives in Tomoladu (ph). Until Sunday she had a family, a home. Now nothing, nobody else is left. She lost several generations of her family.

VELLA, (through translator): My three houses has been swallowed by the wave, everything was taken by the sea.

PEDROSA: Her grief, inconsolable as it is, is matched by that of many others in her village and countless more along south Asia's coastlines. (UNINTELLIGIBLE), Indonesia, as many as 25,000 may have died. Scores of bodies are being unceremoniously dumped in mass graves near the state capital.

But in other areas of the province, a U.N. official says there isn't anyone to bury the bodies. City streets are now hospital wards, lined with victims of the tsunami. For the survivors, aid is beginning to arrive. Soldiers who days ago had fought an insurgency in Aceh (ph) now keep watch over the stricken crowds.

In Thailand, too, mass burials are getting under way. In (UNINTELLIGIBLE) where tourists used to go, the bodies are lined row- by-row. The stench of death blankets southern Sri Lanka. Rescuers uncovered thousands of bodies as they search the rubble around Galle. The death toll is going up all the time. One official told reporters, I am not sure when it will stop. Veronica Pedrosa, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Thousands are still missing from the giant waves that swept across South Asia. But a 20-month-old Swedish boy has been found. And he's been reunited with his family. More now from Matthew Chance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): At a guess, he's just 2 or 3, gasping for breath and alone. Nurses in this Phuket (ph) hospital call him boo-boo, but his real name is Lost, like his parents in the chaos of this tragedy.

Bruised and scratched, he was found half drown and in shock. They didn't know what country he was from. When he's around people he gets upset, even angry, his nurse tells us. When he's alone or with me, he just sits.

Outside the town hall in Phuket (ph), faces of the dead and missing are pinned to notice boards as the waters have receded; desperation is swamping this holiday paradise. Families like the Johnson's from Sweden have flown in to find their missing daughter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's supposed to be here. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) She has to be here and see if we can find her or figure out what happened to her.

CHANCE, (on camera): These are still early days in this disaster without precedent. Across the region, casualty figures and the numbers of missing are still rising. Yet amid all of this tragedy, for some at least there is still hope. CHANCE: (voice over): For them it's a miracle, but this is one family at least reunited. After a frantic search, boo-boo is back in the arms of his grandmother. His real name is Hanis she tells me. His father is alive in hospital, his mother still missing. Moments of joy tinged with terrible loss. Matthew Chance, CNN, Phuket (ph), Thailand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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Aired December 28, 2004 - 11:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR, CNN LIVE TODAY: We are right at the half hour. I'm Daryn Kagan. Good morning once again. Let's take a look at what's happening now in the news.
Graphic images of the toll of last weekend's Tsunami as a number of people killed. The number rose dramatically this morning to 33,000. The U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia are rushing supplies to nations along the rim (ph) of the Indian Ocean.

New violence in Iraq, 18 police officers, and five Iraqi National Guard troops were killed today in attacks in three cities. The bloodiest attack came at this police station in Tikrit.

Ukraine's establishment candidate is vowing to challenge the presidential vote in court. Victor Yanukovych (ph) lost the rerun election by eight percentage points. He refuses to concede, though, to Victor Yushchenko (ph).

And now, to the hardest hit area of the tsunami, Sri Lanka. Almost half of those killed in this disaster live on the island off of India's coast. Our Hugh Remington joins us. He's in the capital of Colombo. Hugh?

HUGH RIMINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, the death toll has climbed again in the last few hours. The official death toll over 18,000. Sri Lankan authorities advising that it's likely to go still higher again. As high as 25,000 before this is done. We know up to 1,000 people died in a single incident. This was a train that was simply wiped off the tracks. In fact, the very tracks themselves were wiped away by the Tsunami.

There were 1,000 people on board, eight carriages. Police and medical authorities here in the capital of Colombo say they do not expect to see any survivors emerging from that train. The hospitals here have been empty of doctors in the capital, Colombo, pretty much emptied of doctors, 125 have been flown off air lifted into the regional hospitals. The district hospitals, that are bearing the brunt of this emergency medical work.

There, the doctors arrived to discover buildings that are often shattered, no electricity, no water, and overwhelming demand. They say conditions are so grim that most doctors can last there only 48 hours, and then they have to be rotated out to be stole (ph) fresh doctors going in. Daryn,

KAGAN: Hugh Rimington from Colombo, Sri Lanka. Thank you for that report.

From the massive scope of the Tsunami disaster to the devastation in just one Sri Lankan town, our Anderson Cooper takes a closer look at the scenes being repeated in cities across towns in the region.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): This is merely the aftermath of the disaster. Water was hurdled ashore by the Tsunami, smashing, crushing, undermining, and then carrying away as it rushed back to the sea. The sound is harrowing as well. A constant dim of wailing, crying, and shouting, pierced now and again by sirens.

This is Galle, Sri Lanka, home to some 84,000 people. A port city and provincial full of buses. Buses that became islands in the flood and unsafe islands at that. Watch the water capsizes one bus; it sinks in a matter of seconds. Those aboard scramble onto a precarious pile of debris.

If you were lucky, you found a roof top to watch it all go by. Others not so lucky had to cling for their lives. Some were swept away. We don't know what happened to them. Galle has never seen anything like this. The Portuguese came here in the 1500s, then the Dutch, then the British. Then the tourists and now the water. It looks like the aftermath of a hurricane.

Reports say a 30-foot wave watched over the ramparts of the Old Dutch fort. See those long red objects near the top of your screen? They're heavy railroad cars, passenger cars, toppled and scattered. There's a civil war in Sri Lanka both the government and the rebels are appealing for help. Galle is in the government-controlled part of the island. Officials declared a national disaster. Some even came to visit.

Relief centers opened complete with food and sad, peaceful music. Hospitals were overwhelmed with injured and morgues with the dead. This is just one city's story. These scenes from Galle are being repeated in countless cities and towns all around the rim (ph) the Indian Ocean.

Survivors salvage what they can. Others just stare. They're simply aren't words for this. In the background, if you listen closely, you can hear birds' songs breaking the silence. And the roar of the waves.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And that report from Anderson Cooper.

Relief workers have now arrived on the scene in many of the areas hit hardest by the massive Tsunamis. One of the biggest concerns right now is disease. Our Sanjay Gupta reports the situation is an epidemic just waiting to happen to happen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Relief workers have arrived on the scene in many of the hardest hit areas. They're assisting with food and water and passing out blankets to those left homeless from the Tsunami. United Nations is working to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) efforts of nations offering aid.

They are warning that the rebuilding process will take years and billions of dollars. This in addition to the emergency aid that is now needed.

JAN EGELAND, U.N. RELIEF COORDINATION: The worst devastation is that caused to water and sanitation. Drinking water for millions have been polluted. Disease will be a result of that and also acute respiratory disease that always comes in the wake of these kinds of massive disasters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The larger task at hand will be keeping the survivors alive. The millions of people who were displaced and vulnerable in these unsanitary conditions to killer diseases like diarrhea and upper respiratory tract infections.

GUPTA: On the ground, emergency aid workers and survivors tell terrible tales.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All we heard was this mighty bang. And the next thing, a bunch of flooding, it was up to there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was under water. The water was above me. I was very -- I thought I will die.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no power. There's no petrol. So there is no movement, no support getting through to help the injured. And I believe that there are bodies that need to be dealt with, identified, and transported out of there. Because soon I guess with this heat, the sanitation problems will arise.

GUPTA: As the days go by, health officials worry that the dire situation that exists with lack of food, water, and shelter will only get worse. Despite the work of thousands of people, trying to help. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Sanjay filed that report before he took off for Sri Lanka. He's on his way to see firsthand the aftermath of Tsunami and report on the health risks there. His live reports are expected to start tonight right here on CNN.

Well could the killer tsunamis that devastated parts of Asia happen here in the U.S.? CNN Adaora Udoji reports they already they already have.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The terror of a tsunami triggered by an earthquake swept Valdez, Alaska off the map on Good Friday in 1964. More than 100 people were killed down the coast to California. Since 1946, tsunamis have hit Alaska four times causing death and destruction all the way to Hawaii.

Today, scientists worry a tsunami could strike North America again. They worry about active fault lines causing earthquakes in the west, a triggering event for monster waves. Government officials worry too, which is why a federal warning system also monitors other potential triggers, volcanoes, meteorites and landslides.

D.L. JOHNSON, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: The warning systems are in their infancy. We're getting better and better at informing the public.

UDOJI: The East Coast hasn't been completely spared. A tidal wave bashed Newfoundland in 1929 killing 27. Another hit Puerto Rico in 1918.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have big earthquakes here. We're not going to see that big type of tsunami.

UDOJI: But there are theories the East Coast may still be vulnerable. Some argue if the volcano in the Canary Islands, near Africa, suddenly erupted and collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean, it could send violent ripples to the U.S. coast within nine hours.

Other scientists worry about gasses escaping the continental crust, 50 to 100 miles off the coast of North Carolina. The idea of an explosive shift, argues Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Weissel, leads to troubling questions.

PROFESSOR JEFFREY WEISSEL, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: We were surprised and everybody is surprised about the amount of gas that we found and we don't understand the full implications for exciting future submarine landslides which then might produce dangerous tsunamis.

UDOJI: Scientists say they just can't yet connect all the dots but many still believe the West Coast has a greater risk of getting hit.

Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Watching the scenes of devastation from South Asia are more than just a little depressing. One bright spot, though, for you, this lost little boy, his story is just ahead.

And on another note, the message -- the latest message from Osama bin Laden, hear what makes this one different when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Want to check in now on CNN's security watch. The CIA says it's moderately confident that the speaker on a new audio tape is indeed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. On the tape, the speaker urges Iraqis to boycott next month's elects and he endorses the terror campaign in Iraq of Abu Musab al Zarqawi.

The Jordanian-borne insurgent is suspected in kidnappings, beheadings, and bombings across Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSAMA BIN LADEN, (through translator): We ask God to accept this unity and bless it. And for all to know the dear (UNINTELLIGIBLE) brother Abu Musab al Zarqawi is the prince of al-Qaeda and Iraq. We ask all our organizations brethren to listen to him and obey him in his good deeds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Kagan: If the tape is indeed authentic, it's the first time that bin Laden has, at least in public, linked himself to Zarqawi's terror group. Earlier this morning, I had a chance to talk with CNN Terrorism Analyst Peter Bergen and ask him what he makes of this alliance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: I don't think it makes a huge amount of difference in what's going on in the ground in Iraq. It is worse if Zarqawi is able to plug into Al-Qaeda's global network and move his operation (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Iraq Jordan area where he has previously already operated into something more global. That's worrisome.

Bin Laden's call for a boycott of the upcoming elects in Iraq. I think the kind of people who may be persuaded by that have already made up their minds to boycott the elections, Sunni fundamentalists. A number of Sunnis have already indicated they don't want to be part of the elections.

So I don't think that call will make a huge amount of difference in terms of people not voting.

KAGAN: Let's talk about the timing now. Why would Osama bin Laden come out and make this statement now?

BERGEN: I don't know. I mean, it's one of a series of statements we're getting from him. We're actually getting more statements from him. He's, you know, trying to insert himself into world events. He did that before the presidential election in this country.

He's made, you know, videotaped statements appealing to the American people. To change their foreign policy. You know, he seems to want to position himself as sort of a big picture politician. I think this tape is part of that.

KAGAN: And then something you were touching on there, the frequency. We just saw the videotape from Osama bin Laden within the last few weeks. Now we're hearing from him yet again. BERGEN: Yes. By my count this is number 30 videotape or audio tape from either bin Laden or Ayman Zawahiri (ph) is number two. That's a pretty extraordinary number if you think about it since 9/11. That's an average of once every six weeks. The tapes are now coming even more frequently.

It seems in me, a massive failure of intelligence gathering that the United States intelligence agencies and others don't seem to be able to trace back the chain of custody of these tapes. After all, that's a sure-fire method of eventually finding these guys. Clearly, Ayman al Zawahiri (ph) the number two in al-Qaeda, and bin Laden feel rather secure.

Because they're actually releasing more tapes rather than less tapes at the moment.

KAGAN: That's part of it, with the frequency, but the other part, what about in terms of the message he's sending out, and the need he feels to communicate with his followers?

BERGEN: I think, Daryn, the overall message he's giving is, you know is usually kill Americans, kill westerners, kill Jews. He's been a little bit more less calls for violence, more calls for Americans to change their foreign policy. In this -- I haven't seen the full transcript of this new tape.

It doesn't appear that it's calling for specifically for attacks against Americans. It is calling for this new alliance between Zarqawi in Iraq and bin Laden wherever he is. So I think it's one of a pattern of tape where's bin Laden is positioning himself as more of a you know, the leader of a wider political movement, rather than simply just as a terrorist.

KAGAN: Peter Bergen, thank you for your insight this morning.

BERGEN: Thank you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Among the thousands of missing in the aftermath of the tsunami in Asia, a single toddler lost and then found. His story and how he's reunited with his family when we come back on "CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The islands of the Maldives are barely above sea level. When the tsunami hit, one official said the Maldives may have completely disappeared from the earth for a few moments. When the water receded, the devastation to the popular tourist area was all too apparent. We get the story from ITN (ph) reporter Martin Misler (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN MISLER, ITN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Paradise shattered in a matter of minutes. The Maldives without warning overwhelmed by the sea. This place is enormously vulnerable. No part of the territory sits more than eight feet above sea level. They have built defenses, but they were no match for nature's power this time.

Seaplanes, normally chartered to very rich tourists around these (UNINTELLIGIBLE) are now being used for relief aid. We flew with one team to see the devastation for ourselves. This is (UNINTELLIGIBLE), one of the world's most exclusive resorts. Guests here stay in five- star lodges on stilts in the ocean. Yesterday, they were hammered by a wall of water three meters high. Some still stand, but they're ruined.

On a neighboring island, another resort, flattened by the waves.

MISLER, (on camera): The Maldives is a collection of 1,200 tiny islands. Almost all of them have been affected in some way by this, many wiped out completely. It will be weeks before the people here get a real idea of how much damage has been done and the cost of repairs.

MISLER, (voice over): Tourism is the country's life flood. That industry has certainly been damaged. This year's video shows the scene moments after the tsunami hit. At the island's main airport today, hundreds of British tourists waiting to leave. Some injured, many have been incredibly lucky.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The water just came up like a gigantic wave and took all of the deck. The deck came flying in through the window and I said, let's get out of here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Started off being able to stand up in it and then cupboards and chairs and mattresses started coming at you. I got out of the way and I ended up on some sort of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) going out to sea. There was people on the beach in the early morning just being washed out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We climbed up the tree while the water was still breaking right at our feet, the waves. We head up the tree and went higher and higher until we were right at the top. And we couldn't go any higher. We just waited until the water level eventually dropped.

MISLER: Most of the tourists are now heading home, leaving behind a shattered country where the repair work is only just beginning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Other news now, southern Asia is a vast region filled today with grief and mourning for 33,000 victims of the sea. CNN's Veronica Pedrosa has a story from Hong Kong. Before we watch, we want to caution you, her report contains very strong images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA PEDROSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice over): Her name is Vella. She lives in Tomoladu (ph). Until Sunday she had a family, a home. Now nothing, nobody else is left. She lost several generations of her family.

VELLA, (through translator): My three houses has been swallowed by the wave, everything was taken by the sea.

PEDROSA: Her grief, inconsolable as it is, is matched by that of many others in her village and countless more along south Asia's coastlines. (UNINTELLIGIBLE), Indonesia, as many as 25,000 may have died. Scores of bodies are being unceremoniously dumped in mass graves near the state capital.

But in other areas of the province, a U.N. official says there isn't anyone to bury the bodies. City streets are now hospital wards, lined with victims of the tsunami. For the survivors, aid is beginning to arrive. Soldiers who days ago had fought an insurgency in Aceh (ph) now keep watch over the stricken crowds.

In Thailand, too, mass burials are getting under way. In (UNINTELLIGIBLE) where tourists used to go, the bodies are lined row- by-row. The stench of death blankets southern Sri Lanka. Rescuers uncovered thousands of bodies as they search the rubble around Galle. The death toll is going up all the time. One official told reporters, I am not sure when it will stop. Veronica Pedrosa, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Thousands are still missing from the giant waves that swept across South Asia. But a 20-month-old Swedish boy has been found. And he's been reunited with his family. More now from Matthew Chance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): At a guess, he's just 2 or 3, gasping for breath and alone. Nurses in this Phuket (ph) hospital call him boo-boo, but his real name is Lost, like his parents in the chaos of this tragedy.

Bruised and scratched, he was found half drown and in shock. They didn't know what country he was from. When he's around people he gets upset, even angry, his nurse tells us. When he's alone or with me, he just sits.

Outside the town hall in Phuket (ph), faces of the dead and missing are pinned to notice boards as the waters have receded; desperation is swamping this holiday paradise. Families like the Johnson's from Sweden have flown in to find their missing daughter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's supposed to be here. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) She has to be here and see if we can find her or figure out what happened to her.

CHANCE, (on camera): These are still early days in this disaster without precedent. Across the region, casualty figures and the numbers of missing are still rising. Yet amid all of this tragedy, for some at least there is still hope. CHANCE: (voice over): For them it's a miracle, but this is one family at least reunited. After a frantic search, boo-boo is back in the arms of his grandmother. His real name is Hanis she tells me. His father is alive in hospital, his mother still missing. Moments of joy tinged with terrible loss. Matthew Chance, CNN, Phuket (ph), Thailand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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