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CNN Live Today
Still Gaps in The Tsunami Aid-Delivery System; Story of an American Doctor Who Left His Practice to Join Relief Operations
Aired January 05, 2005 - 10:30 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.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez. Here's what's happening right now in the news.
Even more tsunami aid is pouring in today. Australia has pledged about $765 million over five years for reconstruction in Indonesia. Germany pledged $680 million over a three to five-year period. Now that money is going to be earmarked for children and health issues in the region. More than $3 billion has been donated or pledged worldwide.
Back in the U.S., Delta Airlines is hoping to boost profits by cutting fares. The airline announced today it is slashing ticket prices on domestic flights by up to 50 percent. Carriers dumping that required Saturday night stay for reduced rates. And it's also reducing the charge for changing a ticket from $100 to $50.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger lays out his plans for California tonight. Schwarzenegger's state of the state address is expected to focus on the budget crisis. California faces an $8 billion short fall. Aids say Schwarzenegger's budget plan contains no new taxes.
President Bush is back campaigning in the heartland. This time for medical liability reform. The president is pushing a plan to cap jury malpractice awards for medical mistakes. CNN is going to have live coverage of Mr. Bush's speech from Collinsville, Illinois. That's scheduled for 2:05 p.m. That's Eastern Time.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at the newest developments in the South Asian tsunami disaster. Thousands of the youngest survivors could be victimized again. The U.N. warns that pedophile rings and illegal adoption rings in Indonesia may attempt to exploit children who have been orphaned or separated from families. Special squads have been posted at refugee camps in Sumatra to prevent anyone from kidnapping children. Police have also been put on alert for people trying to take children out of the country.
The two functioning hospitals in Banda Aceh are overwhelmed with casualties. A medical hospital has now been set up at the main airport to treat the wounded.
The tsunami recovery story is far from complete. Today we have 18 correspondents following new stories in four nations. Ahead this half hour, an American doctor makes a house call in Sri Lanka, and an exclusive look at the problems aid workers face in Indonesia.
First, though, we want to take you to the West Coast of Sri Lanka, scenes only you will see here on CNN. Even though this part of the island faces away from the direction of the tsunami's approach, the devastation there is enormous.
CNN's Anderson Cooper takes us on a walking tour through the remains of Beruwala.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): With each new morning, with each new tide there's no telling what you'll find washed up on the beach.
(on camera) It's only 8:30 in the morning. The sun is already high in the sky and it's getting pretty hot. Every morning you find Sri Lankan villagers walking along the water's edge. They're looking for bodies.
Last week, these waters, which took away so many are this week finally giving back.
(voice-over) A child's sandal washed up overnight. Not exactly what stray dogs were hoping for.
(on camera) The water is so close in so many of these resorts, it just swept across, demolishing buildings. Now there are no people left. All you see are these stray animals.
Even some of the animals here have a strange bewildered, dazed look in their eyes. You see them everywhere, stray dogs and cats roaming, searching through the rubble, trying to find something to eat.
It's easy almost to become jaded to it all. There's so much debris. There's so much wreckage. I mean, it's just it's foot after foot, block after block, street after street. It just keeps going on and on.
And you wonder how, when is this stuff ever going to get cleaned up? There's not any heavy equipment, really, around here. You see a few bulldozers from time to time, but there's just so much stuff. Business cards and people's clothing.
"Hilda's tailors, expert in ladies' and gent's garments."
As you walk through rubble, you often have a hard time seeing things in the rubble, but you smell it. There's an overwhelming smell of rotting meat here. And there's something covered up in plastic in there. That's covered in maggots, and actually maggots are everywhere, all over here.
This is the -- they said that only one person was killed here and that person's already been taken away. So it's either an animal or perhaps some raw meat that they had. But it's -- the smell is quite overwhelming.
(voice-over) The holiday signs still hang at this beach hotel, "Season's Greetings" from an unforgettable place. Anderson Cooper, CNN, Sri Lanka.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: We should tell you there are still gaps in the tsunami aid-delivery system. Indonesia's devastated Aceh province, for example. Relief workers aren't even sure where many of the displaced have gone.
CNN correspondent Beth Nissen is with the workers in Indonesia, files this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The reports have been coming in for two days of full cargo planes headed to Banda Aceh turned away from the crowded airport there. Of critical supplies, food, water purification equipment, tents, anti-malarial medication, sitting in huge piles on the airport tarmac while thousands of those in need suffer, hungry, homeless, increasingly sick.
DR. RICHARD BRENNAN, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: Logistics is a critical component of the relief effort right now and all that entails, transport, warehousing, communications, people with the right skills.
NISSEN: Many established relief agencies, such as the International Rescue Committee, have advanced teams in Aceh that are keeping key personnel in Jakarta where they can better see the big picture of distribution problems.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the moment we've got bottlenecks up here. We've got no access along here or very limited.
NISSEN: Almost 10 days after the disaster, reports of the numbers of dead are more reliable than reports on the numbers of living and their locations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we're hearing is that there are significant numbers who may well have pushed up into the higher ground, but we're still getting reports of isolated pockets of people.
NISSEN: Unknown thousands of survivors are thought to have left devastated coastal areas for the Sumatran interior where they are thought to be crammed together with little food or water, a perfect breeding ground for infectious diseases, from measles to malaria to cholera.
BRENNAN: Certainly tens to hundreds of thousands of people are at risk, so we need to get the aid to these people very soon indeed.
NISSEN: To do that, the score of major non-governmental organizations and hundreds of smaller aid groups here are struggling to coordinate their efforts amongst themselves and with local government ministries and provincial community groups, asking what they need, listening to the answers, adjusting their plans. BRENNAN: What proportion of the population get free health service?
Give them the resources and the support necessary for them to serve their communities best, because they're the guys that are going to be here for the long term.
NISSEN: Long term meaning months, years and it has only been days.
BRENNAN: It always takes days to weeks to gear up a large scale relief effort. The scale of this relief effort is something that I haven't seen before. I mean this is just enormous.
NISSEN: Beth Nissen, CNN, Jakarta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Now we have for you the story of an American doctor who left his own practice to become one of those joining the relief operations. He has fought back tears, seen the plight of the victims.
Our Paula Hancocks follows him as he begins his work in Sri Lanka.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Taking off from Amsterdam with $30,000 worth of essential medical supplies, Dr. Jonathan Fine has taken leave from his hospital in Connecticut to help the Sri Lankan tsunami victims. Twenty hours later, he touches down in Colombo, with U.S. aid agency Americares. He has a day to acclimatize as the medicine clears the overwhelmed Sri Lankan customs.
A seven-hour drive to one of the places Americares believes the medicine is needed most. Hamban Tota (ph), on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, is where the real work starts for Dr. Fine. Locals estimate between 3,000 and 10,000 people lost their lives here. The injured are countless.
The hospital was inundated with casualties. Dr. Fine's job is not only to deliver basic medicine now, but assess exactly what's needed in the coming days and weeks.
On a tour of the hospital, he sees firsthand the type of injuries Sri Lankan doctors are struggling with.
DR. JONATHAN FINE, AMERICARES: She must be on a lot of oxygen.
And she's working hard breathing.
HANCOCKS: Physical injuries, Dr. Fine knows how to treat. The level of trauma is something he's never experienced.
FINE: You see the victims, dead-eyed in their beds, lying there, staring at us, wondering what their stories were, how they will even learn to cope with this, from what they have seen, what they've lost. It's been totally overwhelming.
HANCOCKS: Traveling along the damaged coastal road, he has time to absorb what he has seen.
FINE: I try to be objective. I think I fight back tears just like everybody else.
HANCOCKS: One doctor he spoke to was not able to fight back his tears as he talked about his experiences.
FINE: Saving the lives of babies, fleeing for his own life, and then his own inability to sleep now, his head hurts. He can't eat. He himself is traumatized.
HANCOCKS: When I asked if he would consider volunteering for disaster relief again, he replied simply, it would be an honor.
Paula Hancocks, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: We want to tell you about something important that happened in Europe today. Three minutes of silence for the victims of the tsunami disaster. Flags at half staff. Public transportation coming to a standstill. Most people stopping whatever they were doing, wherever they were. MTV Europe went black during this tribute. Thousands of Europeans are among the dead and among the missing. Stay with us. CNN LIVE TODAY continues after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
KAGAN: Let's take a look at some other news making headlines coast to coast. Crews are still cleaning up part of the Mississippi River. A 790-foot tanker named, believe it or not, "The Tsunami" hit a pier on Tuesday. A caustic chemical spilled from pipes along the pier, which was destroyed in the accident. The damaged tanker was carrying 20 gallons of sweet crude oil, but none of it leaked into the water.
SANCHEZ: We take you now to Denver, Colorado. That is where police are investigating the death of a 17-year-old student stabbed in his high school cafeteria. Officials say the fight broke out Tuesday between the victim and another student, and one of them pulled out a knife. Police have arrested a 16-year-old on suspicion of first- degree murder.
KAGAN: And in Georgia, it turns out 59-year-old great- grandmother is not pregnant after all. Frances Harris had told reporters she was expecting twins. A statement from her son says that for personal reasons Harris thought she was pregnant and convinced her family she was expecting. He also says she apologizes for any inconvenience the story may have caused.
SANCHEZ: Well, it looks like Daryn Kagan was right once again. She picked the winner, but part of that is because she had to. She's from there. That's right, we're talking about USC Trojans.
KAGAN: There you go.
SANCHEZ: Still to come, Trojans proving they are the undisputed champs. And Michelle Bonner can tell us more about that -- Michelle.
MICHELLE BONNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, the USC fighting song, Daryn, I can still hear it being played in the background. When we come back, we'll break it down and figure out whether USC certainly made its own case to own that title outright. Coming up after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Well, USC has done its part to end any debate over who is No. 1. The Trojans walloped Oklahoma 55-19 in last night's Orange Bowl.
CNN's Michelle Bonner was there. She's still is in Miami with highlights.
Hi, Michelle.
MICHELLE BONNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
Boy, I've to tell you, with all the hype surrounding just how evenly matched up these two teams were supposed to be, boy, did Oklahoma certainly prove us wrong? And to steal a cliche of the day, this was about as good an Orange crush as it could possibly get. The Associated Press National Championship Trophy, topping off a 36-point win by the USC Trojans behind an Orange Bowl record five touchdowns from quarterback Matt Leinart.
And USC certainly making its case to one the national title all by themselves. USC has won 22 in a row, were the pre-season No. 1, stayed there throughout the season, and finish in the same spot, and with back to back national championships, I'll tell you what, the word dynasty is being mentioned in sentences today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE CARROLL, USC COACH: This is a cherished moment for me in my coaching career. I'm right in the middle of something really special. I can see it. It's very clear. I had a great time last night, boys. It was fun, though. And, shoot, it's -- to be able to do that in share it with so many people that care so much about it, families, and Trojan family members, all of that, man, it's really, really special.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONNER: Well, I'll tell you what, in asking the players last night, considering the position they were in last year when they garnered a share of the title and didn't play in the national championship game, those players last night who played and put on that performance did, walloping, as Daryn said, Oklahoma, they don't want to share this title with Auburn, who finished their season 13-0. And, Daryn, I'm wondering, instead of the sound of waterfalls, and rain, and crickets last night, did you lull yourself to sleep with the USC fight song?
KAGAN: You got it, one of the first fight songs I learned as a little girl since my dad went there.
BONNER: I'm sure.
KAGAN: Yes, that's what I learned.
My question to you, thinking a three-peat here, almost unprecedented. It certainly hasn't happened like in 60, 70 years in college sports. Do the Trojans go to three, and does the Heisman- winner Matt Leinart come back for his senior year, or does he head to the NFL?
BONNER: That is a really good question. He said throughout the week that he didn't really know. He said there's a lot he felt he needed to do. Not so much in terms of the numbers or another Heisman, but I'll you what, after his performance last night, it would not surprise me one bit if he made the jump to the NFL. He was asked that question right away. He said he knew the question was coming, but he still doesn't know. But after an Orange Bowl record five touchdowns and going out with back-to-back national championships, I wouldn't be surprised if he made the jump to the NFL.
COLLINS: Yes, what else to prove, except as I said, for a threepeat.
BONNER: Exactly.
COLLINS: Michelle Bonner, from Miami, thank you.
SANCHEZ: Yes, and if he stays, get a good insurance policy.
KAGAN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: In other sports-related news, many prominent pro athletes are now teaming up to try and help out in the relief efforts because of the tsunami. A group of NBA stars, for example, including Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal are going to $1,000 force every point they score this week. They'll also going to participate in some shoot-a-thons Friday. That money, by the way, will go to their chosen charity, which is UNICEF.
Baseball slugger Barry Bonds is also joining the effort. His team, the San Francisco Giants, are going to auction off a personal meeting with Bonds in the dugout. The online auction on the team's Web site is going to start Thursday morning. Buyers can also vie for a chance to throw out the first pitch on opening day, or 10 swings at balls thrown by a Giants pitcher, in other words, batting practice.
And an intimate understanding of the disaster is causing Michael Schumacher to dig into his own pockets. The world champion race car driver is donating 10 million to the relief efforts. One of Schumacher's close friends, along with his friend's two young sons were all killed in Thailand as a result of this tsunami. There you go.
KAGAN: Right now, it is 10:54 on the East Coast, where the president is leaving the White House at this hour. He is headed to Collinsville, Illinois to push for limits on jury malpractice awards for medical mistakes.
And also on the West Coast, where California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing to deliver his state-of-the-state address tonight. Stay with us. We're going to bring you all that, and a check of the morning forecast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
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Aired January 5, 2005 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez. Here's what's happening right now in the news.
Even more tsunami aid is pouring in today. Australia has pledged about $765 million over five years for reconstruction in Indonesia. Germany pledged $680 million over a three to five-year period. Now that money is going to be earmarked for children and health issues in the region. More than $3 billion has been donated or pledged worldwide.
Back in the U.S., Delta Airlines is hoping to boost profits by cutting fares. The airline announced today it is slashing ticket prices on domestic flights by up to 50 percent. Carriers dumping that required Saturday night stay for reduced rates. And it's also reducing the charge for changing a ticket from $100 to $50.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger lays out his plans for California tonight. Schwarzenegger's state of the state address is expected to focus on the budget crisis. California faces an $8 billion short fall. Aids say Schwarzenegger's budget plan contains no new taxes.
President Bush is back campaigning in the heartland. This time for medical liability reform. The president is pushing a plan to cap jury malpractice awards for medical mistakes. CNN is going to have live coverage of Mr. Bush's speech from Collinsville, Illinois. That's scheduled for 2:05 p.m. That's Eastern Time.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at the newest developments in the South Asian tsunami disaster. Thousands of the youngest survivors could be victimized again. The U.N. warns that pedophile rings and illegal adoption rings in Indonesia may attempt to exploit children who have been orphaned or separated from families. Special squads have been posted at refugee camps in Sumatra to prevent anyone from kidnapping children. Police have also been put on alert for people trying to take children out of the country.
The two functioning hospitals in Banda Aceh are overwhelmed with casualties. A medical hospital has now been set up at the main airport to treat the wounded.
The tsunami recovery story is far from complete. Today we have 18 correspondents following new stories in four nations. Ahead this half hour, an American doctor makes a house call in Sri Lanka, and an exclusive look at the problems aid workers face in Indonesia.
First, though, we want to take you to the West Coast of Sri Lanka, scenes only you will see here on CNN. Even though this part of the island faces away from the direction of the tsunami's approach, the devastation there is enormous.
CNN's Anderson Cooper takes us on a walking tour through the remains of Beruwala.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): With each new morning, with each new tide there's no telling what you'll find washed up on the beach.
(on camera) It's only 8:30 in the morning. The sun is already high in the sky and it's getting pretty hot. Every morning you find Sri Lankan villagers walking along the water's edge. They're looking for bodies.
Last week, these waters, which took away so many are this week finally giving back.
(voice-over) A child's sandal washed up overnight. Not exactly what stray dogs were hoping for.
(on camera) The water is so close in so many of these resorts, it just swept across, demolishing buildings. Now there are no people left. All you see are these stray animals.
Even some of the animals here have a strange bewildered, dazed look in their eyes. You see them everywhere, stray dogs and cats roaming, searching through the rubble, trying to find something to eat.
It's easy almost to become jaded to it all. There's so much debris. There's so much wreckage. I mean, it's just it's foot after foot, block after block, street after street. It just keeps going on and on.
And you wonder how, when is this stuff ever going to get cleaned up? There's not any heavy equipment, really, around here. You see a few bulldozers from time to time, but there's just so much stuff. Business cards and people's clothing.
"Hilda's tailors, expert in ladies' and gent's garments."
As you walk through rubble, you often have a hard time seeing things in the rubble, but you smell it. There's an overwhelming smell of rotting meat here. And there's something covered up in plastic in there. That's covered in maggots, and actually maggots are everywhere, all over here.
This is the -- they said that only one person was killed here and that person's already been taken away. So it's either an animal or perhaps some raw meat that they had. But it's -- the smell is quite overwhelming.
(voice-over) The holiday signs still hang at this beach hotel, "Season's Greetings" from an unforgettable place. Anderson Cooper, CNN, Sri Lanka.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: We should tell you there are still gaps in the tsunami aid-delivery system. Indonesia's devastated Aceh province, for example. Relief workers aren't even sure where many of the displaced have gone.
CNN correspondent Beth Nissen is with the workers in Indonesia, files this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The reports have been coming in for two days of full cargo planes headed to Banda Aceh turned away from the crowded airport there. Of critical supplies, food, water purification equipment, tents, anti-malarial medication, sitting in huge piles on the airport tarmac while thousands of those in need suffer, hungry, homeless, increasingly sick.
DR. RICHARD BRENNAN, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: Logistics is a critical component of the relief effort right now and all that entails, transport, warehousing, communications, people with the right skills.
NISSEN: Many established relief agencies, such as the International Rescue Committee, have advanced teams in Aceh that are keeping key personnel in Jakarta where they can better see the big picture of distribution problems.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the moment we've got bottlenecks up here. We've got no access along here or very limited.
NISSEN: Almost 10 days after the disaster, reports of the numbers of dead are more reliable than reports on the numbers of living and their locations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we're hearing is that there are significant numbers who may well have pushed up into the higher ground, but we're still getting reports of isolated pockets of people.
NISSEN: Unknown thousands of survivors are thought to have left devastated coastal areas for the Sumatran interior where they are thought to be crammed together with little food or water, a perfect breeding ground for infectious diseases, from measles to malaria to cholera.
BRENNAN: Certainly tens to hundreds of thousands of people are at risk, so we need to get the aid to these people very soon indeed.
NISSEN: To do that, the score of major non-governmental organizations and hundreds of smaller aid groups here are struggling to coordinate their efforts amongst themselves and with local government ministries and provincial community groups, asking what they need, listening to the answers, adjusting their plans. BRENNAN: What proportion of the population get free health service?
Give them the resources and the support necessary for them to serve their communities best, because they're the guys that are going to be here for the long term.
NISSEN: Long term meaning months, years and it has only been days.
BRENNAN: It always takes days to weeks to gear up a large scale relief effort. The scale of this relief effort is something that I haven't seen before. I mean this is just enormous.
NISSEN: Beth Nissen, CNN, Jakarta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Now we have for you the story of an American doctor who left his own practice to become one of those joining the relief operations. He has fought back tears, seen the plight of the victims.
Our Paula Hancocks follows him as he begins his work in Sri Lanka.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Taking off from Amsterdam with $30,000 worth of essential medical supplies, Dr. Jonathan Fine has taken leave from his hospital in Connecticut to help the Sri Lankan tsunami victims. Twenty hours later, he touches down in Colombo, with U.S. aid agency Americares. He has a day to acclimatize as the medicine clears the overwhelmed Sri Lankan customs.
A seven-hour drive to one of the places Americares believes the medicine is needed most. Hamban Tota (ph), on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, is where the real work starts for Dr. Fine. Locals estimate between 3,000 and 10,000 people lost their lives here. The injured are countless.
The hospital was inundated with casualties. Dr. Fine's job is not only to deliver basic medicine now, but assess exactly what's needed in the coming days and weeks.
On a tour of the hospital, he sees firsthand the type of injuries Sri Lankan doctors are struggling with.
DR. JONATHAN FINE, AMERICARES: She must be on a lot of oxygen.
And she's working hard breathing.
HANCOCKS: Physical injuries, Dr. Fine knows how to treat. The level of trauma is something he's never experienced.
FINE: You see the victims, dead-eyed in their beds, lying there, staring at us, wondering what their stories were, how they will even learn to cope with this, from what they have seen, what they've lost. It's been totally overwhelming.
HANCOCKS: Traveling along the damaged coastal road, he has time to absorb what he has seen.
FINE: I try to be objective. I think I fight back tears just like everybody else.
HANCOCKS: One doctor he spoke to was not able to fight back his tears as he talked about his experiences.
FINE: Saving the lives of babies, fleeing for his own life, and then his own inability to sleep now, his head hurts. He can't eat. He himself is traumatized.
HANCOCKS: When I asked if he would consider volunteering for disaster relief again, he replied simply, it would be an honor.
Paula Hancocks, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: We want to tell you about something important that happened in Europe today. Three minutes of silence for the victims of the tsunami disaster. Flags at half staff. Public transportation coming to a standstill. Most people stopping whatever they were doing, wherever they were. MTV Europe went black during this tribute. Thousands of Europeans are among the dead and among the missing. Stay with us. CNN LIVE TODAY continues after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
KAGAN: Let's take a look at some other news making headlines coast to coast. Crews are still cleaning up part of the Mississippi River. A 790-foot tanker named, believe it or not, "The Tsunami" hit a pier on Tuesday. A caustic chemical spilled from pipes along the pier, which was destroyed in the accident. The damaged tanker was carrying 20 gallons of sweet crude oil, but none of it leaked into the water.
SANCHEZ: We take you now to Denver, Colorado. That is where police are investigating the death of a 17-year-old student stabbed in his high school cafeteria. Officials say the fight broke out Tuesday between the victim and another student, and one of them pulled out a knife. Police have arrested a 16-year-old on suspicion of first- degree murder.
KAGAN: And in Georgia, it turns out 59-year-old great- grandmother is not pregnant after all. Frances Harris had told reporters she was expecting twins. A statement from her son says that for personal reasons Harris thought she was pregnant and convinced her family she was expecting. He also says she apologizes for any inconvenience the story may have caused.
SANCHEZ: Well, it looks like Daryn Kagan was right once again. She picked the winner, but part of that is because she had to. She's from there. That's right, we're talking about USC Trojans.
KAGAN: There you go.
SANCHEZ: Still to come, Trojans proving they are the undisputed champs. And Michelle Bonner can tell us more about that -- Michelle.
MICHELLE BONNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, the USC fighting song, Daryn, I can still hear it being played in the background. When we come back, we'll break it down and figure out whether USC certainly made its own case to own that title outright. Coming up after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Well, USC has done its part to end any debate over who is No. 1. The Trojans walloped Oklahoma 55-19 in last night's Orange Bowl.
CNN's Michelle Bonner was there. She's still is in Miami with highlights.
Hi, Michelle.
MICHELLE BONNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
Boy, I've to tell you, with all the hype surrounding just how evenly matched up these two teams were supposed to be, boy, did Oklahoma certainly prove us wrong? And to steal a cliche of the day, this was about as good an Orange crush as it could possibly get. The Associated Press National Championship Trophy, topping off a 36-point win by the USC Trojans behind an Orange Bowl record five touchdowns from quarterback Matt Leinart.
And USC certainly making its case to one the national title all by themselves. USC has won 22 in a row, were the pre-season No. 1, stayed there throughout the season, and finish in the same spot, and with back to back national championships, I'll tell you what, the word dynasty is being mentioned in sentences today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE CARROLL, USC COACH: This is a cherished moment for me in my coaching career. I'm right in the middle of something really special. I can see it. It's very clear. I had a great time last night, boys. It was fun, though. And, shoot, it's -- to be able to do that in share it with so many people that care so much about it, families, and Trojan family members, all of that, man, it's really, really special.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONNER: Well, I'll tell you what, in asking the players last night, considering the position they were in last year when they garnered a share of the title and didn't play in the national championship game, those players last night who played and put on that performance did, walloping, as Daryn said, Oklahoma, they don't want to share this title with Auburn, who finished their season 13-0. And, Daryn, I'm wondering, instead of the sound of waterfalls, and rain, and crickets last night, did you lull yourself to sleep with the USC fight song?
KAGAN: You got it, one of the first fight songs I learned as a little girl since my dad went there.
BONNER: I'm sure.
KAGAN: Yes, that's what I learned.
My question to you, thinking a three-peat here, almost unprecedented. It certainly hasn't happened like in 60, 70 years in college sports. Do the Trojans go to three, and does the Heisman- winner Matt Leinart come back for his senior year, or does he head to the NFL?
BONNER: That is a really good question. He said throughout the week that he didn't really know. He said there's a lot he felt he needed to do. Not so much in terms of the numbers or another Heisman, but I'll you what, after his performance last night, it would not surprise me one bit if he made the jump to the NFL. He was asked that question right away. He said he knew the question was coming, but he still doesn't know. But after an Orange Bowl record five touchdowns and going out with back-to-back national championships, I wouldn't be surprised if he made the jump to the NFL.
COLLINS: Yes, what else to prove, except as I said, for a threepeat.
BONNER: Exactly.
COLLINS: Michelle Bonner, from Miami, thank you.
SANCHEZ: Yes, and if he stays, get a good insurance policy.
KAGAN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: In other sports-related news, many prominent pro athletes are now teaming up to try and help out in the relief efforts because of the tsunami. A group of NBA stars, for example, including Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal are going to $1,000 force every point they score this week. They'll also going to participate in some shoot-a-thons Friday. That money, by the way, will go to their chosen charity, which is UNICEF.
Baseball slugger Barry Bonds is also joining the effort. His team, the San Francisco Giants, are going to auction off a personal meeting with Bonds in the dugout. The online auction on the team's Web site is going to start Thursday morning. Buyers can also vie for a chance to throw out the first pitch on opening day, or 10 swings at balls thrown by a Giants pitcher, in other words, batting practice.
And an intimate understanding of the disaster is causing Michael Schumacher to dig into his own pockets. The world champion race car driver is donating 10 million to the relief efforts. One of Schumacher's close friends, along with his friend's two young sons were all killed in Thailand as a result of this tsunami. There you go.
KAGAN: Right now, it is 10:54 on the East Coast, where the president is leaving the White House at this hour. He is headed to Collinsville, Illinois to push for limits on jury malpractice awards for medical mistakes.
And also on the West Coast, where California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing to deliver his state-of-the-state address tonight. Stay with us. We're going to bring you all that, and a check of the morning forecast.
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