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CNN Live Today

Relief Efforts To Earthquake Victims Grounded; Town of Balakot Flattened; Iraq Faces More Bombings Ahead of Saturday's Vote; President Bush's Eighth Visit To Hurricane-Damaged Areas

Aired October 11, 2005 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Out of time. Here's Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Wow! OK.

MILES O'BRIEN: It's 8:00. It's 8:00, you go. Go.

KAGAN: Three, two, one, time to go.

All right. Great. You guys have a great day in New York City.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: You too, Daryn.

KAGAN: We, as usual, have a lot of live events that we're waiting on. President Bush is in Pass Christian. We'll be hearing from him just ahead.

Also standing by for a bridge implosion. We're going to watch it live from Charleston, South Carolina. This is a bridge that had connected Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, to Charleston. A new, big, beautiful bridge has been built and it's time to say good-bye to the old one. And when that one goes, you're going to see it live here on CNN.

Right now, let's go ahead and take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

Buckled bridges and roads are left after flood waters recede in New Hampshire. Homes and vehicles have also been destroyed in the southwestern part of the state. The floods are being blamed for at least three deaths. Fourteen people remain unaccounted for. Officials say it could take months to restore the area.

A hearing for a man accused of plotting to assassinate President Bush begins this hour. American-born Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was held by Saudi Arabia for more than 20 months. He allegedly confessed while incarcerated. Defense attorneys claim that Abu Ali was tortured and they're trying to get the case thrown out. The hearing is in a northern Virginia courtroom. It could last until next week.

Police in New York have scaled back heightened subway security. Additional measures, including more bag searchers, were put in place last Thursday. That followed a threat from overseas. The threat was not corroborated by a follow-up investigation. New York remains under a level orange terror alert. And a New Jersey businessman is back from his vacation in space. Greg Olson returned today from a week-long stay aboard the International Space Station. Olson is only the third private citizen to take a Russian rocket into space. He paid $20 million for the ride.

I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta.

The bridge we are watching in Charleston, South Carolina, from Charleston to Mount Pleasant, just was imploded. And now you can see pieces of it there and kind of the smoke. This is a bridge, as I said, going from Charleston to Mount Pleasant. Here are the pictures. Now, as you can see, the entire bridge did not go, they're doing this in chunks and they're bringing barges in to take the piece away. The next implosion where they take away further pieces of this bridge, the Pearman Span over Town Creek, will take place on October 25th.

Let's get back to our world news now and check in on the earthquake zone across South Asia. The death toll is climbing there, as does the urgency to help the survivors. Aid is now trickling into the region on this. It's the third day after the devastating quake. We're told that as many as five million people are homeless and struggling to survive in freezing temperatures. Government rescue officials now estimate that more than 41,000 people have been killed in Pakistan alone. And rescuers haven't even reached the most remote areas.

Let's get the latest on this developing story. CNN's Becky Anderson is on the phone. She is in Pakistan's capital of Islamabad.

Becky.

BECK ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Daryn, thanks very much.

Indeed, cities of death and talks of a lost generation. That's what we're hearing here in Islamabad today. We haven't been up towards the north, the more remote region, where the massive devastation is but our correspondents have been and it's more than troubling. It's a complete picture of despair and desperation.

When I talk about cities of the death, I'm talking about a city called Mosofobad (ph), for example, which is the capital of Pakistani- controlled Kashmir. A city of 600,000 people practically razed to the ground. And many of those who have lost their lives are children. A lost generation, as I say, is how people are describing things there.

And let me tell you, frustration today. Real frustration today. There have eight U.S. helicopters which were on their way have arrived. They were in Islamabad. They were taking the first of this much-needed aid effort up towards the north and then came the terrible weather, absolutely awful weather, into the monsoon season here in Pakistan. And it's extremely cold and the rains came in today and that effort has to be grounded.

So effectively, those who had come in with as much aid as they thought was possible at the time had to be grounded and taken back to Islamabad. Those helicopters flew over us at one point. Extreme disappointment, I'm afraid, here in Pakistan.

Daryn.

KAGAN: So we've been talking we've been hearing about the thousands of dead, the injured and then there are, I'm hearing, Becky, millions of people who are homeless.

ANDERSON: Yes, that's one of the bigger problems to a certain extent here. The sadness of this situation is that after five to seven days, and don't forget, Daryn, we're in the fourth day at this point, after five to seven day, the prospect of finding people still alive under the debris is probably lessened somewhat. But the idea is there are five million people displaced in the region. Now that's half the size of a big city like London. Quite extraordinary.

And what they need is winter tents, they need stoves, they need food and they need water. And the way they're going to get that is by the use of helicopters. The roads are not still blocked necessarily, but some of them are still impassible from landslides and mudslides and that's just where the comes (ph) in once again. It's going to make it a lot more difficult to get up there. So grounding these helicopters has been a real disaster for those who are in the most remotest of regions.

KAGAN: Becky Anderson live on the phone with us now from Islamabad, Pakistan. Thank you.

More now on the earthquake. Convoys ferrying the emergency supplies have had a tough time getting to the most remote and hardest hit areas. Our Matthew Chance has managed to reach one such catastrophe zone, the northern Pakistani town of Balakot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: By helicopter we entered Pakistan's nightmare. The northern town of Balakot was home to 250,000 people. But that was last week. Now it's flattened.

On the ground, we were greeted with mayhem. Survivors believing we had food and water for their families scrambled for our bags. We had to struggle to get them back. Then explained we have nothing and had come here alone. That's not what people this desperate want to hear.

Where is the Pakistani army, he screamed. Why aren't they here to save us yet?

Days after this earthquake struck, the people of Balakot, what's left of them, were in shock. Amidst the rubble, the search for survivors seems increasingly hopeless, too. This was once a picturesque tourist town, now they're dragging corpses from the hotels. The stench was gut-wrenching. How many people still lie buried beneath this ruble is anyone's guess? Ask any of the locals and they believe it's thousands of people. Some of them possibly still alive.

But across this whole region, in the heart of the earthquake zone, whole areas are out of reach of the rescue effort. And without professional rescue teams here, it's going to be difficult, if not impossible, to find any more survivors.

Pakistani army helicopters are arriving to ferry some of the injured to hospitals, but locals complain it's not enough. Everybody desperately wants to escape the terrible conditions here. Around the choppers, it's chaos.

And for many in Balakot, what little relief there is comes too late. Like Mohammed Hassan (ph) we found burying his family. As the extent of the horror of this South Asian disaster emerges, there will be more tragedy like this and far more tears.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Balakot in Northern Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: CNN's vast resources are deployed throughout the hurricane zone and our live coverage continues throughout the day.

Later this hour, we'll hear from CNN's Satinder Bindra. He is following the U.S. aid efforts in Pakistan, in the Pakistan-controlled area of Kashmir.

And here's a number for one of the many agencies welcoming donations. UNICEF has established a hotline, 1-800-4UNICEF or you can log on to unicefusa.org.

In Iraq today, at least 35 people were killed in a series of car bombings. The attacks come just four days before a key nationwide vote. Our Aneesh Raman joins us now. He's in Baghdad with details.

Aneesh.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning.

Four suicide car bombs striking Iraq today. The deadliest incident in the northwestern town of Tal Afar this morning. A suicide bomber detonating at a marketplace there. At least 35 people are confirmed dead in that one incident alone. Forty others wounded.

We also understand not far from Tal Afar, in the city of Mosul, two suicide car bombs detonating, killing at least one civilian. And a short time later, in the western part of the capital, a Sunni- dominated neighborhood called Amarria (ph), a suicide car bomb detonating alongside a convoy of Iraqi army vehicles. At least four people were killed there according to Iraqi police. The U.S. military says some eight people were wounded.

This comes, of course, as you mentioned, at a very critical time, just day away from Saturday's vote where Iraqis will go to the polls to either accept or reject the country's constitution. And these attacks, Daryn, are taking place in Sunni areas, which is raising fears that it will keep the Sunnis away from the polls. They are who we are looking for on Saturday in terms of what number of Sunnis come out to vote and whether they have enough to reject this referendum.

In the Sunni Al Ambar Province, for example, the U.S. military, for the past few weeks, as it had ongoing military operations to try and secure that area, this country overall will be under immense security for Saturday's vote, Daryn. Some 6,000 election centers set up for the 15.5 million registered Iraqi voters.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Aneesh Raman live from Baghdad. Thank you.

Also today, an Afghan official is calling an attack the deadliest ever on the nation's police force. At least 19 officers were killed late Monday in an ambush on a convoy in Helmand Province. Five other officers are missing. Suspected Taliban insurgents opened fire on the convoy. A gun battle went on for hours until the militants retreated into the mountains.

Police in Indonesia have arrested a man in connection with this month's Bali bombings. The suspect's full name hasn't been released. He's said to be a construction worker. Twenty-two people were killed in the October 1st attacks on three restaurants. The suspect has not been charged.

President Bush on the Gulf Coast for the eighth time since Hurricane Katrina hit. And he has a pledge for victims of the storm. A live report of Mr. Bush's latest visit is coming up. We also expect to hear from Mr. Bush.

Also, the man beaten by New Orleans police on Bourbon Street over the weekend shares his story with CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD DAVIS: The only thing that I do remember was this woman who kept screaming about "he didn't do anything." That's about all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: His feelings on what happened coming up.

And with fears of bird flu on the minds of many, testing the nation's first responders for an outbreak of the disease. The results are sobering.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Markets have been open just about 44 minutes. It looks like they're bouncing back after the slide. Look at the Dow. It's up 38 points. The Nasdaq also in positive territory just a bit. It is up one point. That blue door, a live picture from Delisle Elementary School in Pass Christian, Mississippi. President Bush behind that door meeting with students who have returned to the school for the first time since Hurricane Katrina hit six weeks ago. Earlier today the president and Mrs. Bush pitched in at a Habitat for Humanity building site in Covington, Louisiana. Students have returned to Delisle Elementary for the first time, as I was mentioning.

Now, back at the White House, we fund our Bob Franken.

Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

And the message from the president throughout this trip is that there are the first glimmerings of a return to normalcy in this area that was so devastated six weeks ago by Katrina. The president here at this new newly-reopened elementary school in Mississippi, as you point out. He had been in Covington, Louisiana, where we put on a hard hat just to demonstrate that he's involved. This is in the reconstruction of another house for somebody who lost hers in the wake of Katrina. The auspices of the Habitat for Humanity.

He also had spent the evening in New Orleans the night before. Not on ship, as he has done before, but in a hotel. He ate in a restaurant there and met with local officials repeatedly through the day yesterday.

His message, he said this morning, was that the local officials will decide the specifics of how they want to recover from this hurricane. That the federal government will not dictate to them. Of course, there's been an awful lot of discussion about the tensions between the federal officials and local officials. What he was suggesting is that the local officials will have primacy as all of this begins to develop.

He's going to be coming back to Washington today where he faces a whole litany of issues that we've discussed before. But one of them, of course, is the handling of the hurricane, but it's not the only one.

Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Bob Franken in Washington, D.C., thank you.

Once again, standing by, we are watching Pass Christian where President Bush is at Delisle Elementary School. When he comes out and if he speaks, you'll see that live right here on CNN.

Meanwhile, let's go to New Orleans where a federal civil rights probe has been launched into a videotaped beating of the retired school teacher. You have seen the violent video which was taken Saturday night from New Orleans's French Quarter. Report Davis appeared with his attorney on CNN's "American Morning" today and he spoke about the events leading up to the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT DAVIS, BEATEN BY OFFICERS: Well, I was walking down Bourbon Street and I wasn't sure about the time of the curfew. I was very concerned about that and I had been asking several law enforcement officers about the curfew. I had heard several different times 8:00, 10:00, and 12:00. So I finally decided to ask one of the New Orleans police officers who was on horseback at the corner of Konti (ph) and Bourbon and he proceeded to give me the time.

And during that, I was interrupted by another police officer who was walking by, really. And he interrupted our conversation and I told him that was very unprofessional and I proceeded to walk on across the street, at which time he punched me, I guess, and from there I don't really remember much, other than a lady in the crowd who was, I guess just a bystander, who kept hollering, "he didn't do anything. He didn't do anything."

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Joseph Bruno, as we mentioned, you're the attorney. Do you think this was race related?

JOSEPH BRUNO, ATTY. FOR ROBERT DAVIS: You know, I know there's a big temptation to go there but my client firmly believes that that's not what's involved here. In fact, he has indicated to anybody who would listen that he doesn't hold the entire police department responsible for this. We've been through too much.

He says (ph) a lot of great, heroic guys on that police force. There's a couple of rotten apples that need to be dealt with. We applaud the police department for their quick and appropriate response to this event. The only thing we're waiting for now is for them to drop the charges against my client so we can proceed with a determining an appropriate amount of compensation to bring him back to where he was.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Those charges are public intoxication, battery on a police officer and resisting arrest. Were you intoxicated?

DAVIS: No, I haven't drank in 25 years. That's the amazing part. I hold no animosity against anyone. I want to thank our new police chief for his quick action. I really do. I mean, that's the first time I've known it to happen, but I also want to have the officer who was on that horse, who was black, by the way, I'd like to have him suspended because I feel that he had some complicity in the situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Davis says he hasn't seen the video. The three officers pleaded not guilty on Monday to battery against a suspect. They have been suspended from duty without pay.

A winter wallop hits the Rockys. Ahead, Denver digging out of an early snowstorm. Not as cold, but still dangerous weather in the northeast. Severe damage and deaths. Jacqui Jeras on what today holds in store for the region.

And later, after the storm, CNN's Kathleen Koch returns to her hometown to check out the recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: What is behind the blue door? Rather who is behind the blue door? That would be President Bush. This is Delisle Elementary School in Pass Christian, Mississippi. President and Mrs. Bush making a visit to the Gulf Coast today. And this elementary school just reopening now, six weeks after the hurricane hit. We're expecting the president to come out of the blue door. And when he does, if he has something to say, you'll see it live here on CNN.

Meanwhile, let's move on to weather and at least three deaths that are being blamed on a powerful snowstorm in Colorado. It was a heavy wet show that brought down power lines and also closed a section of Interstate 70. That roadway reopened this morning, but a lot of schools in the Denver area in Eastern Colorado are closed today. Utility crews hope to have power restored later today.

Jacqui Jeras in the Weather Center. You have snow totals.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: We'll have the latest estimate from South Asia. More than 40,000 dead in the earthquake that struck Sunday morning. And there are millions more in need. What the U.S. is doing to help coming up.

Also, are we prepared for a bird flu outbreak? Is our public health force ready to go? The story we have coming up could make you worry.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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lost generations. Many of the cities are just completely destroyed with many citizens dead and many children have lost their lives as well.>