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CNN Live Today

Experts Say Children Suffering the Most; New Emergency Plan

Aired January 07, 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: President Bush is looking for ideas on tax reform. At the White House last hour, the president announced that he is setting up a bipartisan panel. The group will be led by former Senators Connie Mack and John Breaux. The panel will look for ways to try and help simplify the federal tax code.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bush continues campaigning for curbs on so-called junk lawsuits. The president left the White House joust moments ago, and is headed to Clinton Township, Michigan later today -- pardon me. Mr. Bush is going to talk about how asbestos suits have forced dozens of companies out of business. Some 600,000 claimants have joined numerous asbestos lawsuits. White House officials are saying that the legal costs in that particular case topped $70 billion.

And Secretary of State Colin Powell wound up his tour of tsunami destruction today. He took a helicopter tour in Galle, Sri Lanka, and there he saw boats tossed like toys on the shore and many buildings gutted. Mr. Powell promised at least $25 million in U.S. aid to Sri Lanka. That's part of the $350 million the U.S. had pledged originally to the region.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Tsunami survivors don't just need food, water, shelter and medicine; their psychological needs are as great as their physical ones. And experts say the children are the ones suffering the most.

Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta visited with one 8-year-old boy in a Sri Lankan camp who's too scared to go home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty miles from this town on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka, Binit Hasarema (ph) is just a boy who wants to go home.

He gets up in the morning, brushes his teeth, runs around with his friends, comes up with ways to pass the time. There are no playgrounds, only an empty field strewn with rubbish and some broken wooden chairs.

He wants to get home, but he's afraid to.

His story began the day after Christmas, when the tsunami wrapped itself around his country. He shares his new home, an open classroom with 25 people from eight different families. They somehow carry their pride and dignity crammed among as many as 1,400 other people in this commandeered school with not enough toilets and no privacy. Binit is the face of the new normal in Sri Lanka, an already deprived community, now nearly pushed over the edge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what has he been doing in the camp?

GUPTA: He is the child we all want to help, the focus of relief organizations and the outpouring of aid. But what he really wants is his old life back. If you ask him what happened, he won't tell you, but he may draw you a picture like this one. His house, damaged, but not destroyed. Vehicles from his village, now upside down in the water. Daniel Wordsworth is a six-foot-two Australian who is carrying the goodwill of ordinary Americans to Sri Lanka.

DANIEL WORDSWORTH, CHRISTIAN CHILDREN'S FUND: The event called us, really, and the needs of the children and the needs of the families that were here. We woke up on that Sunday morning to that crisis, as did the rest of the world, and basically immediately got into gear.

GUPTA: He is the international program director for the Christian Children's Fund, America's largest children's charity, and he's got $1. 5 million donated to spend right now.

But surprisingly, spending that kind of money can be difficult.

(on camera): It's a dilemma as old as the first relief effort. How can foreigners help a domestic crisis? And what do individual Americans who open their wallets to the tsunami victims get for their money?

(voice-over): Wordsworth faces two kinds of devastation in Sri Lanka, the physical and the psychological. Tens of thousands killed, entire neighborhoods erased, lives changed forever.

But as a doctor, I know that it's the emotional trauma that can last long afterwards and cause the deepest scars.

Binit's scars are buried under the crayons on the paper. The figure under the bamboo tree, he says, is his dead father.

I now understood why Binit is so afraid to go back home.

WORDSWORTH: Hundreds of families not willing to go back out of fear, fear that another tsunami will come. It's very critical to actually talk with the children about what they've experienced.

GUPTA: His mother never got the chance to break it to him gently. Binit found out about the death of his father from others at the camp, who described him simply as the boy with no papa.

The Christian Children's Fund uses art therapy to reach children like Binit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So this for him is a way to express what he's feeling at the moment and where his thoughts are. GUPTA: There's lots of data to show that works well in the States. But in Sri Lanka, many children have never even seen crayons. Foreigners trying to get children to talk about some of their most sensitive issues through art therapy might not work.

DR. NANCY BARON, GLOBAL PSYCHO-SOCIAL INITIATIVES: Children in Sri Lanka don't normally have crayons. They're not normally drawing. A child in a fishing village in Sri Lanka plays in other ways. They have other ways of handling problems. Art therapy would not be appropriate to their culture and their context.

GUPTA: The need here is enormous, but complicated. Relief workers are in a hurry.

And somewhere along the way, one child seemed to get a little lost. Binit just needs help getting home. It won't be easy.

I went with Binit as he saw his home for the first time after the tsunami. Their house is still standing. They could move back in right now. But their future is no more certain than those who lost everything. Without the father, they have no means of support.

(on camera): A lot of people want to help. What can they do to help?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She says she wants to rebuild her home, send her children back to school, and for life to return to normal again.

GUPTA: What's her plan? What's she going to do next week or next month?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She says some organizations had promised to give food rations in the coming two months. So it's OK. The food will be provided by them. But after that, she doesn't have any plans. She says, if she had the money, she would start a small business, but she doesn't have any means of starting it.

GUPTA: Why not just take the money and give it to the children?

WORDSWORTH: It really isn't that easy to just give money, because you might be giving it to the wrong person, and then that person won't always be able to see beyond the crises they're in today, and they won't be able to look at the long-term process of rebuilding their community.

GUPTA (on camera): Long term, it's inevitable that we will become desensitized to this devastation. Our attention will be distracted by some other story. But the wave that has torn so much apart has also brought together an 8-year-old boy and a 38-year-old man.

(voice-over): Daniel Wordsworth says he's here for the long haul. He's been posted to Sri Lanka for the next three years, three years to try and figure out how to help children like Binit, who will be here for the rest of his life. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: New York children who were comforted post-9/11 messages from around the world are now reaching out to tsunami survivors themselves.

Here's CNN's Allan Chernoff with their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wonder if you feel the same as I did when September 11 happened.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Empathy and compassion in letters from New York children who still recall the terror of 9/11.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am so sorry the tsunami hit Indonesia, and I hope everyone in your family is OK.

CHERNOFF: Sixth graders at the United Nations International School in Manhattan. After 9/11, they received letters of sympathy from around the globe. Now it's their chance to return the favor.

AARON KISS, STUDENT: When I got the letters, it made me feel a lot better, like people cared.

CHERNOFF: The students also are channeling their sympathy into action.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe we could kind of, like, go around the school with a box and, like, collect money from classes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we, like, bring in any spare change that we find around the house, then we should bring it in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who thinks this class...

CHERNOFF: Each grade has adopted an affected country. Indonesia for these sixth graders. They're deciding how to raise money to help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who would do the classroom restaurant?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The lemonade stand and the car wash are in a tie.

CHERNOFF (on camera): The middle school is hoping to raise as much as $20,000 at the end of the month. The school will donate all proceeds to UNICEF.

MARIA MACKAY, TEACHER: Little school children at the age that these school children are always feel that there's hope. They always feel that there's something that they can do.

CHERNOFF (voice-over): And they want the money they'll raise to go to good use.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For clothes since it got washed away with the houses.

MACKAY: And also medicines.

CHERNOFF: They're only 11 years old. Witnessing multiple catastrophes has made these students wise beyond their years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Also, if I can say (ph), life is more important than everyday material possessions.

CHERNOFF: Yet another lesson from the tragedy: even in the face of devastation, children are not helpless. Rather, they can respond together to help heal the world.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Programming note for you. Joining us in about 2 1/2 hours from now, we have a replay of our CNN SPECIAL REPORT "SAVING THE CHILDREN." That's at 1:00 Eastern, 10:00 a.m. Pacific, right here on CNN. Plus, we're also bringing you new stories from the disaster tonight, a "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS," prime-time special, voices from the tsunami that airs at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

In today's CNN Security Watch, one former homeland security official says a deadly train collision in South Carolina could actually ultimately save lives. Eight people died when a cloud of chlorine gas escaped. Out of that tragedy emerged deadly lessons about hazardous shipments and their potential vulnerability to terrorists.

Our David Mattingly has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CURTIS MITCHELL (ph), ACCIDENT VICTIM: My eyes were burning insatiably and my throat felt like something just pulling at it.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It only took a matter of minutes to send Curtis Mitchell and dozens of others to the hospital gasping for breath and fearing for their lives. But the deadly train wreck and chemical spill was a potentially big disaster ultimately limited by its location in rural South Carolina. A more densely populated area and an attack, not an accident, could have been devastating according to former Deputy Homeland Security adviser Richard Falkenrath.

RICHARD FALKENRATH, FMR. HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER: The regulations so far have not really focused on the possibility of a deliberate attack against a hazardous material shipment through a city.

MATTINGLY: Falkenrath advocates stronger containers, better tracking and where possible, more rerouting to avoid large populations. The industry, however, points to sweeping improvements since 9/11, restricting access, more inspections and more patrols, systems aimed at reducing risk. Association of American Railroads President Edward Hamberger calls the rail industry's 200,000 employees the eyes and ears of the security effort.

But even with so many people watching, accidents still can happen and no one in this small mill town saw it coming.

David Mattingly, CNN, Graniteville, South Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And it's incidents like those that we can take off on. Here at CNN with Security Watch, what we try to do is give you a sense of what the government is and isn't doing if these areas to protect you. And it's because of this incident that the bush administration is now releasing standards on a new national emergency response, and that's exactly what it is. In effect, what it does, it calls for all agencies, all levels of government to work off one playbook, not different playbooks.

And here's what homeland security chief Tom Ridge had to say when he outlined this plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY CHIEF: It is a new day in a post- 9/11 world, and our response as a new department is to build on the relationships we have the states, and the locals, and the tribes in the private sector, because only when we take advantage of all the capacity, be it people and technology, and all the ability, and all the training, and all the experience all around the country, do we maximize our own ability as a country to be a strong, and as secure and as safe as we possibly can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right, let's delve into this a little bit. Joining us is CNN security analyst Mike Brooks, who's got a lot of experience with cooperation, or lack thereof, between these agencies. We talk so much about how the CIA and the FBI and the ATF and all these agencies have failed to come together in the past. What will this do to make that difference?

MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: 426 pages, with 152 acronyms. You need that guide on the acronyms. But Rick, after reading this over, having been a first responder myself for over 20-plus years in police, fire and EMS, I read that over and it's not only a playbook but a tool box. I look at it as a tool box. It addresses a lot of different incidents.

I think it's good if they decide after a year when they're going to take a look at it for about four months to implement it, then after a year, they're going to go back and they're going to exercise, they're going to work with state and locals to find out whether or not this is going to work. But yes, over the years, you know, we said there wasn't cooperation. I think this brings a number of different plans all together in one place so they have one stop shopping for incidents of significance.

SANCHEZ: Does it delineate the responsibilities? For example, you have a dirty bomb incident, God forbid. The FBI comes in, handles the investigation, the EPA handles the cleanup, that sort of thing?

BROOKS: It does. From beginning to the end. From the time the incident happens to even before the incident happens in a preventive- type situation, all the way back to recovery when the community can get back to normal.

SANCHEZ: So everyone knows their place and what they're supposed to do?

BROOKS: Exactly.

SANCHEZ: Let me ask you about this. Because you know, I spent a lot of time on the street as a cop beat reporter. And I've worked with a lot of police officers. You know this end, too. The little guys, the municipal guys, the state guys, the county guys, they always feel like they're left out of these things. And yet they're really the first responders. Does this address their concerns?

BROOKS: And that's one of the big things they're doing. Yes, it does address their concerns. You're not going to get the federal agencies coming in unless all of the resources and assets from a major incident, such as the incident in South Carolina, are totally tapped out. Then they'll come to the state and they'll say hey, we don't have enough manpower, we don't have enough assets to take care of this incident. We need the federal's -- fed's help.

Now on a terrorism incident, like in New York City, or we saw back in Oklahoma City, they're going to be in there right away. They're going to be in there with the joint terrorism task force as the federal first responders, right alongside the locals. But when you have something that you only need maybe a little bit, that's why this is a tool box. You reach into this plan, take the tool you need, bring it out. You know, you're not going to use a screwdriver to fix a pipe. You're going to reach into that and pull out what you need in that plan.

But there's going to be -- there's one thing that you people are going to hear a lot of now as a result of these plans and that's incidents of national significance. That's what it's all around. Right off page three...

SANCHEZ: And whenever we hear of an incident of national significance, bang, the spark goes off and all this goes into play?

BROOKS: Boom, this is going to kick in. Because now there's a Homeland Security operations center 24/7 that will kick this into place and deal with the locals.

SANCHEZ: Part of the new American lexicon, right? BROOKS: It really is.

SANCHEZ: Mike Brooks, always a pleasure to have you. Thanks for your insight and your experience.

This reminder, as well. Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

KAGAN: There's some creative efforts under way to help in the tsunami relief. Still to come on CNN LIVE TODAY, find out what happens when this little girl puts on her thinking cap.

SANCHEZ: Also another creative effort from an elephant. That's right, a splash here, a dot there, footprint here. How she's raising money...

KAGAN: A trunk there...

SANCHEZ: ... for her homeland.

KAGAN: Some ears there.

SANCHEZ: Chuck that trunk.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's go ahead and check on the markets.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Let's check some other news happening coast to coast. This one begins in suburban Virginia. It's kind of a different story. A little boy had a malignant tumor. The family nicknamed it Frankenstein. That's a whole story unto itself, but then the family tried to sell a bumper sticker on eBay to help pay for a biopsy. eBay said no and eBay did put up a link to another Web site where people can make a donation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAROLYN LIPSICK: Most important that I want to help them because they can't find their parents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Boy, that's a familiar sentiment among many American children who have been following this tsunami story. A little girl's plan to raise tsunami relieve funds by selling homemade cookies ran afoul of Miami Beach officials, who refused to grant a permit. A local community center came to the rescue and said the girl could hold a fund-raiser on their property. So, problem solved.

KAGAN: OK, let's move on to Fort Worth, Texas. The zoo there is auctioning off a painting by its most famous resident artist to raise money for tsunami victims. Rasha (ph) is an Indian elephant from Thailand and she's dabbling with paint for the past decade. Experienced artist. Bidding on eBay for the painting started at $500 and it's already at more than $6,000.

SANCHEZ: Whatever it takes. And it may have come as a total surprise, but what does it really mean?

KAGAN: Still to come, a closer look at what was behind an overturned conviction for Andrea Yates. Plus you're going to hear what her husband has to say about his wife's future. Also, this is what we're working on for next hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The husband of Andrea Yates appeared on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" last night, just hours after a Texas appeals court overturned his wife's murder convictions. Andrea Yates is serving life in prison for drowning three of their five children in the family bathtub.

Russell Yates says the ruling provides a new opportunity not for her freedom, but to get the care she needs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSSELL YATES, ANDREA YATES' HUSBAND: I'd like to see them drop the charges against her and I'd like to see her go to a state mental hospital until she is well and safe. And that could take, you know, awhile. I mean she's still not stable. So I'd say stable, safe, you know, stable medically, and also has worked through all of her trauma with the counselor. Maybe, you know, a few years. You know, maybe get some day time out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Russell Yates has filed for divorce from his wife. He says they haven't spoken since the verdict was overturned, and because of prison policy, will not be able to speak to her before next month.

Lawyers for Andrea Yates say they have no plans to seek her release, but beyond that, could answer few of her questions stemming from the court's decision.

Former U.S. attorney Kendall Coffey joining us with some legal analysis from Miami.

Kendall, good morning.

KENDALL COFFEY, FMR. U.S. ATTY.: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: I want to start with the soundbite from Rusty Yates there, saying he hopes that this will be an opportunity for his wife to get the mental health help that he believes and many people believe that she needs. Indeed, do you think that's what this will be? Or we're still on a criminal track here?

COFFFEY: I think it's going to stay on the criminal track. And ironically, the prosecutors and everyone else agree that she's mentally ill. They're simply saying that she's not legally insane within that very narrow definition that the law applies. And the prosecutors are also saying, hey maybe their expert testified in a false way, that it wasn't so material that it's enough to justify throwing out the murder conviction after the jury had spoken.

KAGAN: Well, and if I remember correctly, what this trial turned on a couple years ago, mentally ill or not, postpartum psychosis, did she know the difference between right and wrong? And at the time, with the prosecution, it appears that they made the case that she knew she had done something wrong.

COFFFEY: That was it. It was based on this one expert that the prosecution had, and that very narrow definition comes from what happened after John Hinckley was acquitted, found not guilty by reason of insanity. Ironically, the same forensic psychologist testified in the Hinckley case that testified against Andrea Yates, and his was the testimony the jury found that said, yes, she's mentally ill, she's sick, she's got a whole lot of troubles, but she could tell the difference between right and wrong, and that means she's accountable as a murderer.

KAGAN: And now let's talk about this overturning. It centers on a television episode of "Law & Order," Dr. Park Dietz saying that yes, he -- the doctor saying he did consult on this episode. The episode never existed, and so they say they could have swayed the jury, so because this episode never existed they have to start over. That sounds very strange.

COFFEY: Well, it's strange, but here's why it may have been important to the jury, because that episode that the Dr. Dietz testified about was about a woman who drowned her children and then beat the rap by saying that she was mentally insane.

The jury, I think, was perhaps led to believe that, hey, Andrea Yates was coming up with this insanity defense not because it was real, not because she couldn't help herself, but because she wanted a way out from the pressure of motherhood. And by the way, the prosecutor argued that she basically relied on that television episode to get her way out. And as we know that television episode was a mirage.

KAGAN: All right, so they're going to have to start over. Do you think the prosecution or the defense will do anything differently this time of around?

COFFFEY: Well, if they go back to trial, it's going to be the same dueling experts that we saw before. But I think the prosecutors are going to keep appealing this thing, perhaps to Texas' highest court, because there's a big question as to when false testimony, even by a witness in an important position, gets you a new trial. We're going to see that same issue coming up, Daryn, with respect to the Martha Stewart case, whereas you recall, the government's expert was found to have testified falsely. They're going to be seeking a new trial for Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic. It all comes down to one thing. Was that false testimony so incredibly important that it changed the outcome of the trial. KAGAN: Thanks for helping us look at this. Kendall Coffey from Miami.

COFFFEY: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still to come for you, it is now 10:55 an the East Coast. On the West Coast, 7:55, where forecasters predict between several more feet of snow on the Sierra Mountains, by the way, out in California.

KAGAN: Yes, stay with us. We'll be back with a look at your morning forecast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

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Aired January 7, 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: President Bush is looking for ideas on tax reform. At the White House last hour, the president announced that he is setting up a bipartisan panel. The group will be led by former Senators Connie Mack and John Breaux. The panel will look for ways to try and help simplify the federal tax code.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bush continues campaigning for curbs on so-called junk lawsuits. The president left the White House joust moments ago, and is headed to Clinton Township, Michigan later today -- pardon me. Mr. Bush is going to talk about how asbestos suits have forced dozens of companies out of business. Some 600,000 claimants have joined numerous asbestos lawsuits. White House officials are saying that the legal costs in that particular case topped $70 billion.

And Secretary of State Colin Powell wound up his tour of tsunami destruction today. He took a helicopter tour in Galle, Sri Lanka, and there he saw boats tossed like toys on the shore and many buildings gutted. Mr. Powell promised at least $25 million in U.S. aid to Sri Lanka. That's part of the $350 million the U.S. had pledged originally to the region.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Tsunami survivors don't just need food, water, shelter and medicine; their psychological needs are as great as their physical ones. And experts say the children are the ones suffering the most.

Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta visited with one 8-year-old boy in a Sri Lankan camp who's too scared to go home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty miles from this town on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka, Binit Hasarema (ph) is just a boy who wants to go home.

He gets up in the morning, brushes his teeth, runs around with his friends, comes up with ways to pass the time. There are no playgrounds, only an empty field strewn with rubbish and some broken wooden chairs.

He wants to get home, but he's afraid to.

His story began the day after Christmas, when the tsunami wrapped itself around his country. He shares his new home, an open classroom with 25 people from eight different families. They somehow carry their pride and dignity crammed among as many as 1,400 other people in this commandeered school with not enough toilets and no privacy. Binit is the face of the new normal in Sri Lanka, an already deprived community, now nearly pushed over the edge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what has he been doing in the camp?

GUPTA: He is the child we all want to help, the focus of relief organizations and the outpouring of aid. But what he really wants is his old life back. If you ask him what happened, he won't tell you, but he may draw you a picture like this one. His house, damaged, but not destroyed. Vehicles from his village, now upside down in the water. Daniel Wordsworth is a six-foot-two Australian who is carrying the goodwill of ordinary Americans to Sri Lanka.

DANIEL WORDSWORTH, CHRISTIAN CHILDREN'S FUND: The event called us, really, and the needs of the children and the needs of the families that were here. We woke up on that Sunday morning to that crisis, as did the rest of the world, and basically immediately got into gear.

GUPTA: He is the international program director for the Christian Children's Fund, America's largest children's charity, and he's got $1. 5 million donated to spend right now.

But surprisingly, spending that kind of money can be difficult.

(on camera): It's a dilemma as old as the first relief effort. How can foreigners help a domestic crisis? And what do individual Americans who open their wallets to the tsunami victims get for their money?

(voice-over): Wordsworth faces two kinds of devastation in Sri Lanka, the physical and the psychological. Tens of thousands killed, entire neighborhoods erased, lives changed forever.

But as a doctor, I know that it's the emotional trauma that can last long afterwards and cause the deepest scars.

Binit's scars are buried under the crayons on the paper. The figure under the bamboo tree, he says, is his dead father.

I now understood why Binit is so afraid to go back home.

WORDSWORTH: Hundreds of families not willing to go back out of fear, fear that another tsunami will come. It's very critical to actually talk with the children about what they've experienced.

GUPTA: His mother never got the chance to break it to him gently. Binit found out about the death of his father from others at the camp, who described him simply as the boy with no papa.

The Christian Children's Fund uses art therapy to reach children like Binit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So this for him is a way to express what he's feeling at the moment and where his thoughts are. GUPTA: There's lots of data to show that works well in the States. But in Sri Lanka, many children have never even seen crayons. Foreigners trying to get children to talk about some of their most sensitive issues through art therapy might not work.

DR. NANCY BARON, GLOBAL PSYCHO-SOCIAL INITIATIVES: Children in Sri Lanka don't normally have crayons. They're not normally drawing. A child in a fishing village in Sri Lanka plays in other ways. They have other ways of handling problems. Art therapy would not be appropriate to their culture and their context.

GUPTA: The need here is enormous, but complicated. Relief workers are in a hurry.

And somewhere along the way, one child seemed to get a little lost. Binit just needs help getting home. It won't be easy.

I went with Binit as he saw his home for the first time after the tsunami. Their house is still standing. They could move back in right now. But their future is no more certain than those who lost everything. Without the father, they have no means of support.

(on camera): A lot of people want to help. What can they do to help?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She says she wants to rebuild her home, send her children back to school, and for life to return to normal again.

GUPTA: What's her plan? What's she going to do next week or next month?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She says some organizations had promised to give food rations in the coming two months. So it's OK. The food will be provided by them. But after that, she doesn't have any plans. She says, if she had the money, she would start a small business, but she doesn't have any means of starting it.

GUPTA: Why not just take the money and give it to the children?

WORDSWORTH: It really isn't that easy to just give money, because you might be giving it to the wrong person, and then that person won't always be able to see beyond the crises they're in today, and they won't be able to look at the long-term process of rebuilding their community.

GUPTA (on camera): Long term, it's inevitable that we will become desensitized to this devastation. Our attention will be distracted by some other story. But the wave that has torn so much apart has also brought together an 8-year-old boy and a 38-year-old man.

(voice-over): Daniel Wordsworth says he's here for the long haul. He's been posted to Sri Lanka for the next three years, three years to try and figure out how to help children like Binit, who will be here for the rest of his life. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: New York children who were comforted post-9/11 messages from around the world are now reaching out to tsunami survivors themselves.

Here's CNN's Allan Chernoff with their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wonder if you feel the same as I did when September 11 happened.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Empathy and compassion in letters from New York children who still recall the terror of 9/11.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am so sorry the tsunami hit Indonesia, and I hope everyone in your family is OK.

CHERNOFF: Sixth graders at the United Nations International School in Manhattan. After 9/11, they received letters of sympathy from around the globe. Now it's their chance to return the favor.

AARON KISS, STUDENT: When I got the letters, it made me feel a lot better, like people cared.

CHERNOFF: The students also are channeling their sympathy into action.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe we could kind of, like, go around the school with a box and, like, collect money from classes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we, like, bring in any spare change that we find around the house, then we should bring it in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who thinks this class...

CHERNOFF: Each grade has adopted an affected country. Indonesia for these sixth graders. They're deciding how to raise money to help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who would do the classroom restaurant?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The lemonade stand and the car wash are in a tie.

CHERNOFF (on camera): The middle school is hoping to raise as much as $20,000 at the end of the month. The school will donate all proceeds to UNICEF.

MARIA MACKAY, TEACHER: Little school children at the age that these school children are always feel that there's hope. They always feel that there's something that they can do.

CHERNOFF (voice-over): And they want the money they'll raise to go to good use.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For clothes since it got washed away with the houses.

MACKAY: And also medicines.

CHERNOFF: They're only 11 years old. Witnessing multiple catastrophes has made these students wise beyond their years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Also, if I can say (ph), life is more important than everyday material possessions.

CHERNOFF: Yet another lesson from the tragedy: even in the face of devastation, children are not helpless. Rather, they can respond together to help heal the world.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Programming note for you. Joining us in about 2 1/2 hours from now, we have a replay of our CNN SPECIAL REPORT "SAVING THE CHILDREN." That's at 1:00 Eastern, 10:00 a.m. Pacific, right here on CNN. Plus, we're also bringing you new stories from the disaster tonight, a "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS," prime-time special, voices from the tsunami that airs at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

In today's CNN Security Watch, one former homeland security official says a deadly train collision in South Carolina could actually ultimately save lives. Eight people died when a cloud of chlorine gas escaped. Out of that tragedy emerged deadly lessons about hazardous shipments and their potential vulnerability to terrorists.

Our David Mattingly has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CURTIS MITCHELL (ph), ACCIDENT VICTIM: My eyes were burning insatiably and my throat felt like something just pulling at it.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It only took a matter of minutes to send Curtis Mitchell and dozens of others to the hospital gasping for breath and fearing for their lives. But the deadly train wreck and chemical spill was a potentially big disaster ultimately limited by its location in rural South Carolina. A more densely populated area and an attack, not an accident, could have been devastating according to former Deputy Homeland Security adviser Richard Falkenrath.

RICHARD FALKENRATH, FMR. HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER: The regulations so far have not really focused on the possibility of a deliberate attack against a hazardous material shipment through a city.

MATTINGLY: Falkenrath advocates stronger containers, better tracking and where possible, more rerouting to avoid large populations. The industry, however, points to sweeping improvements since 9/11, restricting access, more inspections and more patrols, systems aimed at reducing risk. Association of American Railroads President Edward Hamberger calls the rail industry's 200,000 employees the eyes and ears of the security effort.

But even with so many people watching, accidents still can happen and no one in this small mill town saw it coming.

David Mattingly, CNN, Graniteville, South Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And it's incidents like those that we can take off on. Here at CNN with Security Watch, what we try to do is give you a sense of what the government is and isn't doing if these areas to protect you. And it's because of this incident that the bush administration is now releasing standards on a new national emergency response, and that's exactly what it is. In effect, what it does, it calls for all agencies, all levels of government to work off one playbook, not different playbooks.

And here's what homeland security chief Tom Ridge had to say when he outlined this plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY CHIEF: It is a new day in a post- 9/11 world, and our response as a new department is to build on the relationships we have the states, and the locals, and the tribes in the private sector, because only when we take advantage of all the capacity, be it people and technology, and all the ability, and all the training, and all the experience all around the country, do we maximize our own ability as a country to be a strong, and as secure and as safe as we possibly can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right, let's delve into this a little bit. Joining us is CNN security analyst Mike Brooks, who's got a lot of experience with cooperation, or lack thereof, between these agencies. We talk so much about how the CIA and the FBI and the ATF and all these agencies have failed to come together in the past. What will this do to make that difference?

MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: 426 pages, with 152 acronyms. You need that guide on the acronyms. But Rick, after reading this over, having been a first responder myself for over 20-plus years in police, fire and EMS, I read that over and it's not only a playbook but a tool box. I look at it as a tool box. It addresses a lot of different incidents.

I think it's good if they decide after a year when they're going to take a look at it for about four months to implement it, then after a year, they're going to go back and they're going to exercise, they're going to work with state and locals to find out whether or not this is going to work. But yes, over the years, you know, we said there wasn't cooperation. I think this brings a number of different plans all together in one place so they have one stop shopping for incidents of significance.

SANCHEZ: Does it delineate the responsibilities? For example, you have a dirty bomb incident, God forbid. The FBI comes in, handles the investigation, the EPA handles the cleanup, that sort of thing?

BROOKS: It does. From beginning to the end. From the time the incident happens to even before the incident happens in a preventive- type situation, all the way back to recovery when the community can get back to normal.

SANCHEZ: So everyone knows their place and what they're supposed to do?

BROOKS: Exactly.

SANCHEZ: Let me ask you about this. Because you know, I spent a lot of time on the street as a cop beat reporter. And I've worked with a lot of police officers. You know this end, too. The little guys, the municipal guys, the state guys, the county guys, they always feel like they're left out of these things. And yet they're really the first responders. Does this address their concerns?

BROOKS: And that's one of the big things they're doing. Yes, it does address their concerns. You're not going to get the federal agencies coming in unless all of the resources and assets from a major incident, such as the incident in South Carolina, are totally tapped out. Then they'll come to the state and they'll say hey, we don't have enough manpower, we don't have enough assets to take care of this incident. We need the federal's -- fed's help.

Now on a terrorism incident, like in New York City, or we saw back in Oklahoma City, they're going to be in there right away. They're going to be in there with the joint terrorism task force as the federal first responders, right alongside the locals. But when you have something that you only need maybe a little bit, that's why this is a tool box. You reach into this plan, take the tool you need, bring it out. You know, you're not going to use a screwdriver to fix a pipe. You're going to reach into that and pull out what you need in that plan.

But there's going to be -- there's one thing that you people are going to hear a lot of now as a result of these plans and that's incidents of national significance. That's what it's all around. Right off page three...

SANCHEZ: And whenever we hear of an incident of national significance, bang, the spark goes off and all this goes into play?

BROOKS: Boom, this is going to kick in. Because now there's a Homeland Security operations center 24/7 that will kick this into place and deal with the locals.

SANCHEZ: Part of the new American lexicon, right? BROOKS: It really is.

SANCHEZ: Mike Brooks, always a pleasure to have you. Thanks for your insight and your experience.

This reminder, as well. Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

KAGAN: There's some creative efforts under way to help in the tsunami relief. Still to come on CNN LIVE TODAY, find out what happens when this little girl puts on her thinking cap.

SANCHEZ: Also another creative effort from an elephant. That's right, a splash here, a dot there, footprint here. How she's raising money...

KAGAN: A trunk there...

SANCHEZ: ... for her homeland.

KAGAN: Some ears there.

SANCHEZ: Chuck that trunk.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's go ahead and check on the markets.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Let's check some other news happening coast to coast. This one begins in suburban Virginia. It's kind of a different story. A little boy had a malignant tumor. The family nicknamed it Frankenstein. That's a whole story unto itself, but then the family tried to sell a bumper sticker on eBay to help pay for a biopsy. eBay said no and eBay did put up a link to another Web site where people can make a donation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAROLYN LIPSICK: Most important that I want to help them because they can't find their parents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Boy, that's a familiar sentiment among many American children who have been following this tsunami story. A little girl's plan to raise tsunami relieve funds by selling homemade cookies ran afoul of Miami Beach officials, who refused to grant a permit. A local community center came to the rescue and said the girl could hold a fund-raiser on their property. So, problem solved.

KAGAN: OK, let's move on to Fort Worth, Texas. The zoo there is auctioning off a painting by its most famous resident artist to raise money for tsunami victims. Rasha (ph) is an Indian elephant from Thailand and she's dabbling with paint for the past decade. Experienced artist. Bidding on eBay for the painting started at $500 and it's already at more than $6,000.

SANCHEZ: Whatever it takes. And it may have come as a total surprise, but what does it really mean?

KAGAN: Still to come, a closer look at what was behind an overturned conviction for Andrea Yates. Plus you're going to hear what her husband has to say about his wife's future. Also, this is what we're working on for next hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The husband of Andrea Yates appeared on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" last night, just hours after a Texas appeals court overturned his wife's murder convictions. Andrea Yates is serving life in prison for drowning three of their five children in the family bathtub.

Russell Yates says the ruling provides a new opportunity not for her freedom, but to get the care she needs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSSELL YATES, ANDREA YATES' HUSBAND: I'd like to see them drop the charges against her and I'd like to see her go to a state mental hospital until she is well and safe. And that could take, you know, awhile. I mean she's still not stable. So I'd say stable, safe, you know, stable medically, and also has worked through all of her trauma with the counselor. Maybe, you know, a few years. You know, maybe get some day time out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Russell Yates has filed for divorce from his wife. He says they haven't spoken since the verdict was overturned, and because of prison policy, will not be able to speak to her before next month.

Lawyers for Andrea Yates say they have no plans to seek her release, but beyond that, could answer few of her questions stemming from the court's decision.

Former U.S. attorney Kendall Coffey joining us with some legal analysis from Miami.

Kendall, good morning.

KENDALL COFFEY, FMR. U.S. ATTY.: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: I want to start with the soundbite from Rusty Yates there, saying he hopes that this will be an opportunity for his wife to get the mental health help that he believes and many people believe that she needs. Indeed, do you think that's what this will be? Or we're still on a criminal track here?

COFFFEY: I think it's going to stay on the criminal track. And ironically, the prosecutors and everyone else agree that she's mentally ill. They're simply saying that she's not legally insane within that very narrow definition that the law applies. And the prosecutors are also saying, hey maybe their expert testified in a false way, that it wasn't so material that it's enough to justify throwing out the murder conviction after the jury had spoken.

KAGAN: Well, and if I remember correctly, what this trial turned on a couple years ago, mentally ill or not, postpartum psychosis, did she know the difference between right and wrong? And at the time, with the prosecution, it appears that they made the case that she knew she had done something wrong.

COFFFEY: That was it. It was based on this one expert that the prosecution had, and that very narrow definition comes from what happened after John Hinckley was acquitted, found not guilty by reason of insanity. Ironically, the same forensic psychologist testified in the Hinckley case that testified against Andrea Yates, and his was the testimony the jury found that said, yes, she's mentally ill, she's sick, she's got a whole lot of troubles, but she could tell the difference between right and wrong, and that means she's accountable as a murderer.

KAGAN: And now let's talk about this overturning. It centers on a television episode of "Law & Order," Dr. Park Dietz saying that yes, he -- the doctor saying he did consult on this episode. The episode never existed, and so they say they could have swayed the jury, so because this episode never existed they have to start over. That sounds very strange.

COFFEY: Well, it's strange, but here's why it may have been important to the jury, because that episode that the Dr. Dietz testified about was about a woman who drowned her children and then beat the rap by saying that she was mentally insane.

The jury, I think, was perhaps led to believe that, hey, Andrea Yates was coming up with this insanity defense not because it was real, not because she couldn't help herself, but because she wanted a way out from the pressure of motherhood. And by the way, the prosecutor argued that she basically relied on that television episode to get her way out. And as we know that television episode was a mirage.

KAGAN: All right, so they're going to have to start over. Do you think the prosecution or the defense will do anything differently this time of around?

COFFFEY: Well, if they go back to trial, it's going to be the same dueling experts that we saw before. But I think the prosecutors are going to keep appealing this thing, perhaps to Texas' highest court, because there's a big question as to when false testimony, even by a witness in an important position, gets you a new trial. We're going to see that same issue coming up, Daryn, with respect to the Martha Stewart case, whereas you recall, the government's expert was found to have testified falsely. They're going to be seeking a new trial for Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic. It all comes down to one thing. Was that false testimony so incredibly important that it changed the outcome of the trial. KAGAN: Thanks for helping us look at this. Kendall Coffey from Miami.

COFFFEY: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still to come for you, it is now 10:55 an the East Coast. On the West Coast, 7:55, where forecasters predict between several more feet of snow on the Sierra Mountains, by the way, out in California.

KAGAN: Yes, stay with us. We'll be back with a look at your morning forecast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

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