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CNN Live Today
Tsunami's Ground Zero; Agonizing Search for Loved Ones in Thailand
Aired December 30, 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: We're getting reports of a possible explosion in Gaza. Palestinian sources report hearing a blast. Reuters is reporting that Palestinian militants blew up a bomb near an Israeli military position east of Gaza City. We'll update you as we get more information.
Floodwaters surge across parts of Arizona as more storms pound the western U.S. Heavy rain forced 300 about people from their homes near Sedona.
And the search resumes today for two college students missing after their canoe capsized near Prescott. The storms have dumped near record rainfall on parts of the West.
The nation's police agencies get a new intelligence bulletin about al Qaeda surveillance activities in the U.S. A Homeland Security official says it details techniques that al Qaeda used to case financial sites in New York, New Jersey and D.C. Information about their surveillance led to increased terror alerts around those buildings.
The clock reads 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. for those of you waking up in the West. From CNN Center in Atlanta, good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan. Rick Sanchez in New York on assignment.
The tsunami disaster and the global response to help those in desperate need remains front and center today here on CNN today. Much of what you're going to see this hour will be heartbreaking, and it will be difficult to watch.
The number of people killed by the monstrous waves topped the 116,000 mark today. That makes the tragedy one of the 10 deadliest in human history.
Hundreds of non-nationals, mostly tourists, have been killed in the disaster, 12 of them American. There are indications that number is going to rise. The State Department says it's getting calls for information on missing citizens at the rate of 400 an hour.
And deliveries of food, water and medicine to the Indian Ocean rim picked up pace today. The United Nations now says $250 million has been pledged for tsunami victims so far.
We are going to begin at what's become the tsunami's ground zero. Our Mike Chinoy is reporting from Indonesia. He is in the Aceh Province yet again today -- Mike.
MIKE CHINOY, CNN SR. ASIA CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
Well, today we got some pictures that gave some very grim answers to a question that has been worrying a lot of people over the last few days. And that question was, what happened to the hundreds of thousands of people who lived along the western coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. That's the landmass that's closest to the epicenter of the quake.
It's an area that's been completely cut off. But some remarkable and very, very frightening, upsetting video became available today, taken over the last day or two. It showed long stretches of the coastline completely obliterated by the quake, and especially by the tsunami that followed.
Whole towns were swallowed up and raised over a stretch of coastline anywhere from 16 to 120 miles long. This is an area that had been completely out of touch because of the damage that the tsunami caused.
Some of these pictures were take taken by a British conservationist named Mike Griffiths, who has worked here on an ecosystem reserve in Indonesia for many, many years. He flew up the coast and took some of the most heartbreaking pictures. And he described the impact on communities in the areas where he photographed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE GRIFFITHS, CONSERVATIONIST: Most of the people that live near the coast -- and that's, of course, the majority of people in this part of Aceh in Indonesia -- most people are either fishermen or (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And these people were just completely -- they have completely vanished.
Literally, there are about four or five towns on the west coast with populations of at least 10,000 people. They have been eradicated. They've been literally wasted, and they no longer exist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHINOY: Daryn, I should say that the music you heard behind was the evening prayers here. The people here in Aceh predominantly Muslim. They're going to need all their faith to get through this continuing and terrifying ordeal -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And Mike, more questions for you about the survivors and the challenges that they face. We're hearing reports of looting, price gouging, not to mention all the other problems that those who find themselves homeless and jobless now face.
CHINOY: Well, there's been a little bit of that, but what's been surprising here in Banda Aceh, which is -- has been before the quake and the tsunami a bustling and provincial capital, is that there really hasn't been that much of it. That's probably, I think, because people are so stunned and so shell shocked that they're kind of numb, walking around in a daze, just trying to scrape by from day to day, waiting for help.
It may also be something in the character of the Aceh people not to respond that way, at least not so far. But there's a lot of frustration here that supplies have been fairly late in coming and, of course, Aceh has been the scene of a very bloody guerrilla war, going back more than a decade between local separatists who want to secede from Indonesia, make Aceh an independent country, and the Indonesian military.
So this has been a very tense place all along. And once the shock wears off, the question is, will those tensions reemerge and lead to political conflict? For the moment, the guerrillas in the Indonesian army have called a cease-fire in the face of the disaster. How long that will last, what will happen afterwards, anybody's guess -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Mike Chinoy reporting from Indonesia. Thank you for that.
Well, the tsunami has left hundreds, if not thousands, of children without parents. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is reporting from Sri Lanka. He now is along that country's southern coast where shelters are now opening.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We've got exclusive access into one of the displacement camps that we've been hearing so much about. Some of the stories that we've been hearing about as well, the stories of orphans, what happens to these children when they lose both their parents. Well, we found some of the news, in fact, is good.
(voice-over): Here are the consequences of a tsunami. A Buddhist temple suddenly turned to orphanage, and hundreds of new nameless faces. Vulnerable looks that only children can give.
(on camera): We're obviously surrounded by a lot of children here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
GUPTA: All displaced by the tsunami?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, for the past three days they have been here.
GUPTA (voice-over): Hard to believe they can smile. Some are still painfully shy. And most, for the time being, anyway, oblivious to just how much their future has changed.
(on camera): How many displaced have there been as a result of the tsunami?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have the correct figures, but should be children and -- children and the women.
GUPTA (voice-over): More than a million at least. And many of these families from some of the most deprived areas of the country. Now more deprived than ever.
(on camera): What do you do for them here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, now, what happens is, here we supply the food and the medicine and whatever the basic facilities (ph) they need at the moment.
GUPTA (voice-over): At a time when care and relief arrive in cargo planes, no amount of aid can ever give them back their parents. But still, here's where the story gets a little hopeful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any children under 10 years who are without parents, just let us know and we are going to take care of them. And we will in the future.
GUPTA (on camera): You can really tell how bad something is in a country by how the kids are doing, can't you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are the wonderful groups, and these are the future of the country, right?
GUPTA: Right.
(voice-over): And so, by that measure, Sri Lanka is doing better than you might expect.
(on camera): For the time being, a lot of these orphans are going to stay in displacement camps like this. And the numbers continue to grow. Hundreds today, maybe thousands over the next couple of weeks.
But another thing that's growing as well, phone calls about adoption. The organizations that we spoke to welcome those phone calls. A little bit of good news amidst all this tragedy.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Sri Lanka.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Well, getting food, bottled water and medicine to tsunami victims is a big undertaking. The disaster zone is spread over a huge geographical area, and you've got about a dozen governments to deal with.
James Lee Witt handled disaster relief during the Clinton administration as FEMA director. He joins me now from Little Rock, Arkansas.
James Lee, good morning. Thanks for joining us.
JAMES LEE WITT, FMR. FEMA DIRECTOR: Good morning. Good to see you. KAGAN: What do you take from your FEMA experience that can be applied here?
WITT: Well, I think some of the things that I have seen and the people I've talked to, you know, this is so -- such a massive catastrophic event. The most important thing that needs to happen -- and I'm sure they're doing some of this now -- but they need some teams inside those impacted areas, particularly to help that government in that country set up resource centers and be able to receive all those goods that are going to be coming in. And to be able to coordinate that so that the people will be able to get supplies and water and food and medicine in a more functional way.
It's still not functional. It needs a lot of work in the coordination efforts and in setting those centers it up, because it's going to take some really unbelievable operations to do this.
And, you know, my heart just goes out to all these people because there's so much that could be done, that should be done. And it takes an awful lot of money for these organizations to do this. And so I would really encourage people to donate to an organization of their choice and help them to help these people.
KAGAN: Sure. And now you list yourself as an international disaster relieve consultant. How does somebody in the private sector play into this global crisis?
WITT: Well, we are managing the entire recovery efforts right now for the Cayman Islands that got hit by hurricanes. And what we try to do is to bring in a public-private partnership, bring in the corporate structures and the corporations that are willing to help with foundations to be able to fund specific projects to meet that immediate need. And I think it's absolutely critical.
KAGAN: Now, I know one thing -- well, I would imagine one thing. When you were running FEMA, with each disaster you try to learn something to apply to the next. What would you be looking to learn from this unprecedented disaster?
WITT: Well, I think several things. One is, you know, I'm also the CEO of the International Code Council. And what we would look at is, you know, how soon could we get tsunami warnings up? You know, what would the cost of that be? Where could we get the money to help put that in place?
Also, we would work towards developing a long-term recovery plan. How we build and where we build and building back better and safer could make a difference for many, many years for these people to be -- to live safer and have safer places to work. So there's just an awful lot that could be done in mitigating this type of loss in the future.
KAGAN: And as a former government official, I'd like to get your response to some critics who have called the U.S. response stingy. The U.S. not giving enough and aid not getting there quickly enough. What would you say to that? WITT: Well, President Bush has allocated $35 million already towards the response of this. And I'm sure that that is probably going to go up. You know, it's...
KAGAN: And has also diverted military resources that were on their way to the Middle East. The president saying that the people who calling this stingy have -- are ill informed, misguided, that it's not just that one number.
WITT: Well, that's true. But I think it's important, too.
You know, you allocate a substantial amount of money up front to help meet the immediate need, but also you look at what it's going to take to meet the long-term need. And I think it's going to take more than the United States. It's going to take the world to help these countries and these people to recover.
And, you know, really, truly, they don't have a very good damage assessment of the areas yet. And, you know, we know that all the infrastructure has been gone and all of it is going to have to be replaced. And buildings are going to have to be replaced.
So I think -- I think the $35 million is a start. But I think that it's going to take a whole lot more, not only from the United States, but other countries as well.
KAGAN: James Lee Witt, the former head of FEMA. Thanks for your insight.
WITT: Thank you.
KAGAN: And we also have some new tape into the CNN newsroom that we want to share with you. Secretary of State Colin Powell has visited Indonesia's embassy in Washington. He's sharing his condolences. In fact, he also visited the embassies of Thailand and Sri Lanka, two other countries devastated by the tsunami. Here is what the secretary of state had to say just a few moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We are mobilizing all our assets to help. As you know, we made an initial infusion of money, $35 million. But we know that this is just the beginning of a much greater need, a much more significant commitment from the United States.
We have airplanes arriving with aid now. Six airplanes are landing or are in the process of landing, and more will follow. U.S. naval forces are on the way to the region and will begin arriving in the next week. And they should be able to provide some additional assistance.
Search and rescue teams have left from Los Angeles and form Fairfax County, Virginia, to assist in rescue efforts. We're beefing up our disaster relief teams in the region to make an assessment. We're also reaching out to all Americans to make a contribution. Americans are a very generous people. And we hope that they will go to our Web site, state.gov or usaid.gov. And from there, they can learn about agencies that are collecting money that will be used for the relief effort. I encourage all Americans to participate in this relief effort.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Congressional leaders have started drafting legislation to assist those countries and will introduce next year when lawmakers return.
Officials in Thailand say more than 5,200 people are still missing there. ITV reporter Adrian Britton reports on the agonizing search for loved ones, also on the heartbreaking reality that many people are now facing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADRIAN BRITTON, REPORTER, ITV NEWS (voice-over): There is no easy way of breaking the news.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sophie? Sophie?
BRITTON: The death toll is so high. The people have no option but to view a picture gallery of the deceased to discover friends or family have been killed.
The pain of looking at faces they once cherished now appallingly disfigured. But shining through the despair is human determination to find relatives alive. Luke Simon from Somerset was separated from his brother on Phi Phi Beach. Maybe, just maybe someone will recognize his face.
LUKE SIMON, BROTHER MISSING: And the last thing, I saw him and he was between a wall and a building, a concrete building which is about four feet wide. And that filled up with water quite quickly. So I have reason to believe that he just got swept away somewhere.
BRITTON: And these are the lost children of the tsunami. Smiling faces of youngsters. Among them, two Swedish brothers who were enjoying a Christmas family holiday.
One of the worst hit areas of the country was Khao Lak Beach, nearly 1,000 killed. Amid the task to clear the bodies, there is colossal salvage work as well.
(on camera): We're now in Kamala (ph). And like other resorts we've seen, it looks as though a tornado has ripped through it.
And the reason why so many people are missing is because when the tidal waves came in, they had to go out again. And that's when husband was swept away from wife and child from parent. Many children not strong enough to hold on. In fact, we may never know how many people were taken out to sea.
(voice-over): Adrian Britton, ITV News, Phuket.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Next up, a story that frankly is just a parent's nightmare, being forced to let go of one of your children during the tsunami. One family's ordeal is coming up.
A teenager in Maryland takes matters into his own hands, privately working to raise money for tsunami victims in his native country. I'll talk to this young man later in the hour.
And a new bulletin on the -- from the FBI on tactics that al Qaeda terrorists may be using inside the U.S.
You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: And let's go ahead and check weather. They keep coming. Rolling Pacific storms are piling snow high in the Sierra Nevada. By the weekend, forecasters say, an astonishing five feet of snow might be on the ground in some spots. Winds are gusting at near 60 miles an hour. Elsewhere in California and the Southwest, record rainfall is the concern.
Let's go ahead and check in on weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: We're going to get back to our tsunami coverage. Just ahead, the effort to find missing loved ones in the hardest hit areas. There is heartbreak, but there also is hope. We're going to have a live report from Thailand just ahead.
And then back here in the U.S., looking ahead to a New Year's tradition. We're going to have a preview of the weekend and the week, you could just say, in college bowl games. Does this even make sense without a playoff? Are you listening BCS? We'll talk that just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Since we are on the eve, after all, of New Year's Eve and all that goes with it, it is a gridiron gravy train. Sixteen college bowl games between now and Tuesday night.
CNN's Rick Horrow joins us now. He is in Charlotte, and he's going to give us a preview of a few of them.
And we're going to talk about -- Rick, I'm going to tell you up front, we're going to talk about whether any of them matter because of the BCS system. But we'll get to that in a moment.
Good morning.
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Hey. They all matter. Good morning. How are you this morning?
KAGAN: Doing great. So we're in North Carolina for?
HORROW: Well, the Continental Tire Bowl. This is bowl 13 of the 28. It's bowl one for me.
We're going to Nashville in the Gaylord holiday hotel bowl. Then we're doing Atlanta, the Chick-fil-A in your neck of the woods.
KAGAN: Come on down.
HORROW: Three bowls -- I'll be down. Then three bowls in Florida, one quarter a piece on New Year's Day. And then the grand daddy of all this year, the national championship game in Miami. Seven bowls in four days, Daryn. Come on down.
KAGAN: Well, you know what the problem here is, Rick? With this BCS and the system as it now stands. There is -- there is much debate over whether there can be a true championship here.
HORROW: Well, here's the thing, the bowls here, like the Continental Tire Bowl, North Carolina's just happy to be here at 6-5.
KAGAN: Right.
HORROW: The Boston College deal, for example -- they're playing -- is altogether different. Let's call it the economic disappointment bowl for them here.
Had they beaten Syracuse three weeks ago at home, they would have played in part of the BCS worth a $17 million payout. There are four of those bowls. The system is always tweaked.
There may be four teams, by the way, Utah, Boise State, Oklahoma, obviously, and Southern Cal, that may be undefeated, including Auburn. Maybe four of those after Tuesday. If that doesn't inspire change for the national championship, I don't know what does.
KAGAN: Well, there's going to be change all right. The Associated Press telling the BCS, you know what? Don't include us in your little system there. We don't really want to be part of it.
But, you know, you make a point that, with all these bowl systems -- and people say there's too many bowls -- what is a team? How is a team that is 6-5, how did they earn a right to go to a bowl?
HORROW: Well, because there are 13 of them that are 6-5 this year. It's the most in history.
The bottom line is it's not necessarily mediocrity. It's a moment in the sun for teams like North Carolina.
Tomorrow, when we're in Nashville, we're going to see two 6-5 teams, Alabama and Minnesota. And don't you dare tell them that they don't deserve a shot at some kind of bowl. By the way, Scarborough Research says that people that watch bowls are smarter, more educated and buy more than the average consumer. Present company excluded.
KAGAN: Really? OK.
HORROW: Excluded. But the bottom line is, that's one of the reasons was TV is excited about these bowls.
KAGAN: OK. If you want to talk about smart, or making the argument smart, explain to me what is smart about leaving out a Pac-10 team from the Rose Bowl? It's going to be -- it's Texas and Michigan. It's supposed to be the Pac-10 and the Big 10. You've got Texas coming in there, Cal -- no sign of Cal.
HORROW: Hey, Daryn, let's not go there yet.
KAGAN: Well, I'm going there.
HORROW: We don't have time right now. We have four days to debate this.
The bottom line is the sports writers are no longer involved in the polls. There are always controversies when you only have two teams going. You ought to have three or four or five.
And we're going to talk Tuesday about what happens to those four undefeated teams that claim the national championship, even though one is the right one that really gets it. That's going to tweak the system.
Hey, controversy is good for college football. It's a $5 billion business, and we'll dissect that over the next few days.
KAGAN: Yes. And if you want to push the Pac-10, USC, of course, number one right now, going against Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl for the Big Mac Daddy -- Orange Bowl.
We will talk to you later. Hey, don't get too sick on all the junk food at all those bowl games.
HORROW: I'll talk to you tomorrow in Nashville.
KAGAN: All right.
Rick has an ambitious reporting schedule ahead. Now, listen in. Tomorrow, as he said, he's going to Nashville. That's for the Music City Bowl.
Then it's down here to Atlanta for the Peach Bowl. Then to Florida for the Outback Bowl on New Year's Day. And then up the I-4 corridor a couple of hours later for the Capital One bowl in Orlando.
North to Jacksonville for the Gator Bowl. He's going to catch that one in progress. We'll, you know, give him a break. And finally, Rick finishes up in Miami Tuesday night for the Orange Bowl. Then he'll probably have to go on a diet just because of all the junk food in the media room along the way.
Well, that was our one break from the kind of overwhelming tsunami coverage. We do get back to that now. One mother caught by the rushing waters facing the most painful choice. Her story and more after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired December 30, 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: We're getting reports of a possible explosion in Gaza. Palestinian sources report hearing a blast. Reuters is reporting that Palestinian militants blew up a bomb near an Israeli military position east of Gaza City. We'll update you as we get more information.
Floodwaters surge across parts of Arizona as more storms pound the western U.S. Heavy rain forced 300 about people from their homes near Sedona.
And the search resumes today for two college students missing after their canoe capsized near Prescott. The storms have dumped near record rainfall on parts of the West.
The nation's police agencies get a new intelligence bulletin about al Qaeda surveillance activities in the U.S. A Homeland Security official says it details techniques that al Qaeda used to case financial sites in New York, New Jersey and D.C. Information about their surveillance led to increased terror alerts around those buildings.
The clock reads 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. for those of you waking up in the West. From CNN Center in Atlanta, good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan. Rick Sanchez in New York on assignment.
The tsunami disaster and the global response to help those in desperate need remains front and center today here on CNN today. Much of what you're going to see this hour will be heartbreaking, and it will be difficult to watch.
The number of people killed by the monstrous waves topped the 116,000 mark today. That makes the tragedy one of the 10 deadliest in human history.
Hundreds of non-nationals, mostly tourists, have been killed in the disaster, 12 of them American. There are indications that number is going to rise. The State Department says it's getting calls for information on missing citizens at the rate of 400 an hour.
And deliveries of food, water and medicine to the Indian Ocean rim picked up pace today. The United Nations now says $250 million has been pledged for tsunami victims so far.
We are going to begin at what's become the tsunami's ground zero. Our Mike Chinoy is reporting from Indonesia. He is in the Aceh Province yet again today -- Mike.
MIKE CHINOY, CNN SR. ASIA CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
Well, today we got some pictures that gave some very grim answers to a question that has been worrying a lot of people over the last few days. And that question was, what happened to the hundreds of thousands of people who lived along the western coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. That's the landmass that's closest to the epicenter of the quake.
It's an area that's been completely cut off. But some remarkable and very, very frightening, upsetting video became available today, taken over the last day or two. It showed long stretches of the coastline completely obliterated by the quake, and especially by the tsunami that followed.
Whole towns were swallowed up and raised over a stretch of coastline anywhere from 16 to 120 miles long. This is an area that had been completely out of touch because of the damage that the tsunami caused.
Some of these pictures were take taken by a British conservationist named Mike Griffiths, who has worked here on an ecosystem reserve in Indonesia for many, many years. He flew up the coast and took some of the most heartbreaking pictures. And he described the impact on communities in the areas where he photographed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE GRIFFITHS, CONSERVATIONIST: Most of the people that live near the coast -- and that's, of course, the majority of people in this part of Aceh in Indonesia -- most people are either fishermen or (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And these people were just completely -- they have completely vanished.
Literally, there are about four or five towns on the west coast with populations of at least 10,000 people. They have been eradicated. They've been literally wasted, and they no longer exist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHINOY: Daryn, I should say that the music you heard behind was the evening prayers here. The people here in Aceh predominantly Muslim. They're going to need all their faith to get through this continuing and terrifying ordeal -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And Mike, more questions for you about the survivors and the challenges that they face. We're hearing reports of looting, price gouging, not to mention all the other problems that those who find themselves homeless and jobless now face.
CHINOY: Well, there's been a little bit of that, but what's been surprising here in Banda Aceh, which is -- has been before the quake and the tsunami a bustling and provincial capital, is that there really hasn't been that much of it. That's probably, I think, because people are so stunned and so shell shocked that they're kind of numb, walking around in a daze, just trying to scrape by from day to day, waiting for help.
It may also be something in the character of the Aceh people not to respond that way, at least not so far. But there's a lot of frustration here that supplies have been fairly late in coming and, of course, Aceh has been the scene of a very bloody guerrilla war, going back more than a decade between local separatists who want to secede from Indonesia, make Aceh an independent country, and the Indonesian military.
So this has been a very tense place all along. And once the shock wears off, the question is, will those tensions reemerge and lead to political conflict? For the moment, the guerrillas in the Indonesian army have called a cease-fire in the face of the disaster. How long that will last, what will happen afterwards, anybody's guess -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Mike Chinoy reporting from Indonesia. Thank you for that.
Well, the tsunami has left hundreds, if not thousands, of children without parents. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is reporting from Sri Lanka. He now is along that country's southern coast where shelters are now opening.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We've got exclusive access into one of the displacement camps that we've been hearing so much about. Some of the stories that we've been hearing about as well, the stories of orphans, what happens to these children when they lose both their parents. Well, we found some of the news, in fact, is good.
(voice-over): Here are the consequences of a tsunami. A Buddhist temple suddenly turned to orphanage, and hundreds of new nameless faces. Vulnerable looks that only children can give.
(on camera): We're obviously surrounded by a lot of children here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
GUPTA: All displaced by the tsunami?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, for the past three days they have been here.
GUPTA (voice-over): Hard to believe they can smile. Some are still painfully shy. And most, for the time being, anyway, oblivious to just how much their future has changed.
(on camera): How many displaced have there been as a result of the tsunami?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have the correct figures, but should be children and -- children and the women.
GUPTA (voice-over): More than a million at least. And many of these families from some of the most deprived areas of the country. Now more deprived than ever.
(on camera): What do you do for them here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, now, what happens is, here we supply the food and the medicine and whatever the basic facilities (ph) they need at the moment.
GUPTA (voice-over): At a time when care and relief arrive in cargo planes, no amount of aid can ever give them back their parents. But still, here's where the story gets a little hopeful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any children under 10 years who are without parents, just let us know and we are going to take care of them. And we will in the future.
GUPTA (on camera): You can really tell how bad something is in a country by how the kids are doing, can't you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are the wonderful groups, and these are the future of the country, right?
GUPTA: Right.
(voice-over): And so, by that measure, Sri Lanka is doing better than you might expect.
(on camera): For the time being, a lot of these orphans are going to stay in displacement camps like this. And the numbers continue to grow. Hundreds today, maybe thousands over the next couple of weeks.
But another thing that's growing as well, phone calls about adoption. The organizations that we spoke to welcome those phone calls. A little bit of good news amidst all this tragedy.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Sri Lanka.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Well, getting food, bottled water and medicine to tsunami victims is a big undertaking. The disaster zone is spread over a huge geographical area, and you've got about a dozen governments to deal with.
James Lee Witt handled disaster relief during the Clinton administration as FEMA director. He joins me now from Little Rock, Arkansas.
James Lee, good morning. Thanks for joining us.
JAMES LEE WITT, FMR. FEMA DIRECTOR: Good morning. Good to see you. KAGAN: What do you take from your FEMA experience that can be applied here?
WITT: Well, I think some of the things that I have seen and the people I've talked to, you know, this is so -- such a massive catastrophic event. The most important thing that needs to happen -- and I'm sure they're doing some of this now -- but they need some teams inside those impacted areas, particularly to help that government in that country set up resource centers and be able to receive all those goods that are going to be coming in. And to be able to coordinate that so that the people will be able to get supplies and water and food and medicine in a more functional way.
It's still not functional. It needs a lot of work in the coordination efforts and in setting those centers it up, because it's going to take some really unbelievable operations to do this.
And, you know, my heart just goes out to all these people because there's so much that could be done, that should be done. And it takes an awful lot of money for these organizations to do this. And so I would really encourage people to donate to an organization of their choice and help them to help these people.
KAGAN: Sure. And now you list yourself as an international disaster relieve consultant. How does somebody in the private sector play into this global crisis?
WITT: Well, we are managing the entire recovery efforts right now for the Cayman Islands that got hit by hurricanes. And what we try to do is to bring in a public-private partnership, bring in the corporate structures and the corporations that are willing to help with foundations to be able to fund specific projects to meet that immediate need. And I think it's absolutely critical.
KAGAN: Now, I know one thing -- well, I would imagine one thing. When you were running FEMA, with each disaster you try to learn something to apply to the next. What would you be looking to learn from this unprecedented disaster?
WITT: Well, I think several things. One is, you know, I'm also the CEO of the International Code Council. And what we would look at is, you know, how soon could we get tsunami warnings up? You know, what would the cost of that be? Where could we get the money to help put that in place?
Also, we would work towards developing a long-term recovery plan. How we build and where we build and building back better and safer could make a difference for many, many years for these people to be -- to live safer and have safer places to work. So there's just an awful lot that could be done in mitigating this type of loss in the future.
KAGAN: And as a former government official, I'd like to get your response to some critics who have called the U.S. response stingy. The U.S. not giving enough and aid not getting there quickly enough. What would you say to that? WITT: Well, President Bush has allocated $35 million already towards the response of this. And I'm sure that that is probably going to go up. You know, it's...
KAGAN: And has also diverted military resources that were on their way to the Middle East. The president saying that the people who calling this stingy have -- are ill informed, misguided, that it's not just that one number.
WITT: Well, that's true. But I think it's important, too.
You know, you allocate a substantial amount of money up front to help meet the immediate need, but also you look at what it's going to take to meet the long-term need. And I think it's going to take more than the United States. It's going to take the world to help these countries and these people to recover.
And, you know, really, truly, they don't have a very good damage assessment of the areas yet. And, you know, we know that all the infrastructure has been gone and all of it is going to have to be replaced. And buildings are going to have to be replaced.
So I think -- I think the $35 million is a start. But I think that it's going to take a whole lot more, not only from the United States, but other countries as well.
KAGAN: James Lee Witt, the former head of FEMA. Thanks for your insight.
WITT: Thank you.
KAGAN: And we also have some new tape into the CNN newsroom that we want to share with you. Secretary of State Colin Powell has visited Indonesia's embassy in Washington. He's sharing his condolences. In fact, he also visited the embassies of Thailand and Sri Lanka, two other countries devastated by the tsunami. Here is what the secretary of state had to say just a few moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We are mobilizing all our assets to help. As you know, we made an initial infusion of money, $35 million. But we know that this is just the beginning of a much greater need, a much more significant commitment from the United States.
We have airplanes arriving with aid now. Six airplanes are landing or are in the process of landing, and more will follow. U.S. naval forces are on the way to the region and will begin arriving in the next week. And they should be able to provide some additional assistance.
Search and rescue teams have left from Los Angeles and form Fairfax County, Virginia, to assist in rescue efforts. We're beefing up our disaster relief teams in the region to make an assessment. We're also reaching out to all Americans to make a contribution. Americans are a very generous people. And we hope that they will go to our Web site, state.gov or usaid.gov. And from there, they can learn about agencies that are collecting money that will be used for the relief effort. I encourage all Americans to participate in this relief effort.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Congressional leaders have started drafting legislation to assist those countries and will introduce next year when lawmakers return.
Officials in Thailand say more than 5,200 people are still missing there. ITV reporter Adrian Britton reports on the agonizing search for loved ones, also on the heartbreaking reality that many people are now facing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADRIAN BRITTON, REPORTER, ITV NEWS (voice-over): There is no easy way of breaking the news.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sophie? Sophie?
BRITTON: The death toll is so high. The people have no option but to view a picture gallery of the deceased to discover friends or family have been killed.
The pain of looking at faces they once cherished now appallingly disfigured. But shining through the despair is human determination to find relatives alive. Luke Simon from Somerset was separated from his brother on Phi Phi Beach. Maybe, just maybe someone will recognize his face.
LUKE SIMON, BROTHER MISSING: And the last thing, I saw him and he was between a wall and a building, a concrete building which is about four feet wide. And that filled up with water quite quickly. So I have reason to believe that he just got swept away somewhere.
BRITTON: And these are the lost children of the tsunami. Smiling faces of youngsters. Among them, two Swedish brothers who were enjoying a Christmas family holiday.
One of the worst hit areas of the country was Khao Lak Beach, nearly 1,000 killed. Amid the task to clear the bodies, there is colossal salvage work as well.
(on camera): We're now in Kamala (ph). And like other resorts we've seen, it looks as though a tornado has ripped through it.
And the reason why so many people are missing is because when the tidal waves came in, they had to go out again. And that's when husband was swept away from wife and child from parent. Many children not strong enough to hold on. In fact, we may never know how many people were taken out to sea.
(voice-over): Adrian Britton, ITV News, Phuket.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Next up, a story that frankly is just a parent's nightmare, being forced to let go of one of your children during the tsunami. One family's ordeal is coming up.
A teenager in Maryland takes matters into his own hands, privately working to raise money for tsunami victims in his native country. I'll talk to this young man later in the hour.
And a new bulletin on the -- from the FBI on tactics that al Qaeda terrorists may be using inside the U.S.
You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: And let's go ahead and check weather. They keep coming. Rolling Pacific storms are piling snow high in the Sierra Nevada. By the weekend, forecasters say, an astonishing five feet of snow might be on the ground in some spots. Winds are gusting at near 60 miles an hour. Elsewhere in California and the Southwest, record rainfall is the concern.
Let's go ahead and check in on weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: We're going to get back to our tsunami coverage. Just ahead, the effort to find missing loved ones in the hardest hit areas. There is heartbreak, but there also is hope. We're going to have a live report from Thailand just ahead.
And then back here in the U.S., looking ahead to a New Year's tradition. We're going to have a preview of the weekend and the week, you could just say, in college bowl games. Does this even make sense without a playoff? Are you listening BCS? We'll talk that just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Since we are on the eve, after all, of New Year's Eve and all that goes with it, it is a gridiron gravy train. Sixteen college bowl games between now and Tuesday night.
CNN's Rick Horrow joins us now. He is in Charlotte, and he's going to give us a preview of a few of them.
And we're going to talk about -- Rick, I'm going to tell you up front, we're going to talk about whether any of them matter because of the BCS system. But we'll get to that in a moment.
Good morning.
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Hey. They all matter. Good morning. How are you this morning?
KAGAN: Doing great. So we're in North Carolina for?
HORROW: Well, the Continental Tire Bowl. This is bowl 13 of the 28. It's bowl one for me.
We're going to Nashville in the Gaylord holiday hotel bowl. Then we're doing Atlanta, the Chick-fil-A in your neck of the woods.
KAGAN: Come on down.
HORROW: Three bowls -- I'll be down. Then three bowls in Florida, one quarter a piece on New Year's Day. And then the grand daddy of all this year, the national championship game in Miami. Seven bowls in four days, Daryn. Come on down.
KAGAN: Well, you know what the problem here is, Rick? With this BCS and the system as it now stands. There is -- there is much debate over whether there can be a true championship here.
HORROW: Well, here's the thing, the bowls here, like the Continental Tire Bowl, North Carolina's just happy to be here at 6-5.
KAGAN: Right.
HORROW: The Boston College deal, for example -- they're playing -- is altogether different. Let's call it the economic disappointment bowl for them here.
Had they beaten Syracuse three weeks ago at home, they would have played in part of the BCS worth a $17 million payout. There are four of those bowls. The system is always tweaked.
There may be four teams, by the way, Utah, Boise State, Oklahoma, obviously, and Southern Cal, that may be undefeated, including Auburn. Maybe four of those after Tuesday. If that doesn't inspire change for the national championship, I don't know what does.
KAGAN: Well, there's going to be change all right. The Associated Press telling the BCS, you know what? Don't include us in your little system there. We don't really want to be part of it.
But, you know, you make a point that, with all these bowl systems -- and people say there's too many bowls -- what is a team? How is a team that is 6-5, how did they earn a right to go to a bowl?
HORROW: Well, because there are 13 of them that are 6-5 this year. It's the most in history.
The bottom line is it's not necessarily mediocrity. It's a moment in the sun for teams like North Carolina.
Tomorrow, when we're in Nashville, we're going to see two 6-5 teams, Alabama and Minnesota. And don't you dare tell them that they don't deserve a shot at some kind of bowl. By the way, Scarborough Research says that people that watch bowls are smarter, more educated and buy more than the average consumer. Present company excluded.
KAGAN: Really? OK.
HORROW: Excluded. But the bottom line is, that's one of the reasons was TV is excited about these bowls.
KAGAN: OK. If you want to talk about smart, or making the argument smart, explain to me what is smart about leaving out a Pac-10 team from the Rose Bowl? It's going to be -- it's Texas and Michigan. It's supposed to be the Pac-10 and the Big 10. You've got Texas coming in there, Cal -- no sign of Cal.
HORROW: Hey, Daryn, let's not go there yet.
KAGAN: Well, I'm going there.
HORROW: We don't have time right now. We have four days to debate this.
The bottom line is the sports writers are no longer involved in the polls. There are always controversies when you only have two teams going. You ought to have three or four or five.
And we're going to talk Tuesday about what happens to those four undefeated teams that claim the national championship, even though one is the right one that really gets it. That's going to tweak the system.
Hey, controversy is good for college football. It's a $5 billion business, and we'll dissect that over the next few days.
KAGAN: Yes. And if you want to push the Pac-10, USC, of course, number one right now, going against Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl for the Big Mac Daddy -- Orange Bowl.
We will talk to you later. Hey, don't get too sick on all the junk food at all those bowl games.
HORROW: I'll talk to you tomorrow in Nashville.
KAGAN: All right.
Rick has an ambitious reporting schedule ahead. Now, listen in. Tomorrow, as he said, he's going to Nashville. That's for the Music City Bowl.
Then it's down here to Atlanta for the Peach Bowl. Then to Florida for the Outback Bowl on New Year's Day. And then up the I-4 corridor a couple of hours later for the Capital One bowl in Orlando.
North to Jacksonville for the Gator Bowl. He's going to catch that one in progress. We'll, you know, give him a break. And finally, Rick finishes up in Miami Tuesday night for the Orange Bowl. Then he'll probably have to go on a diet just because of all the junk food in the media room along the way.
Well, that was our one break from the kind of overwhelming tsunami coverage. We do get back to that now. One mother caught by the rushing waters facing the most painful choice. Her story and more after this.
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