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CNN Sunday Morning

The Tsunami Disaster

Aired January 02, 2005 - 07:00   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.


TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is January 2nd, 7:00 a.m. here in the East and 4:00 a.m. out West.
And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, I'm Randi Kaye in for Betty Nguyen. Thanks for being with us.

A top level of U.S. team is just hours away from leaving for tsunami ravaged South Asia. A delegation, led by Secretary of State Colin Powell, leaves later today. Powell will look at relief needs and allocation of emergency aid.

His delegation will visit Indonesia, Thailand, and perhaps other countries hit a week ago by the huge waves.

Also headed for the disaster zone this week, U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan. He'll attend a donor's conference Thursday in the Indonesian capitol of Jakarta.

The international community has already pledged $2 billion in aid, including $350 million from the United States and $500 million from Japan.

President Bush ends his holiday vacation at his Texas ranch today and flies back to Washington. It was a quiet holiday break for the president, marked only by his condolences to families of south Asian victims and announcements of aid for the survivors.

Meanwhile, the president has ordered that all American flags be lowered to half staff this week in memory of the tsunami victims. The flags will be lowered starting on Monday.

HARRIS: Here are several excellent reasons to stay with us this hour. In a report you'll see only on CNN, we'll take you back inside rebel held territory in Sri Lanka to explain adversaries for putting aside their differences while they deal with tsunami crisis.

Also, a tiny ethnic TV station in Los Angeles makes a big play to help tsunami victims. And Hollywood lending star power to the cause.

And later, CNN's Ricardo analyzes this year's bowls games in which to expect at this year's granddaddy -- the championship game, the Orange Bowl. KAYE: And let's get straight to our top story, the latest developments in the tsunami disaster. The overall death toll is rising more slowly than it was last week. 138,000 reported dead Saturday morning. 141,000 now. The toll will continue to climb, though, because thousands of people are still listed as missing.

U.S. Navy Seahawk helicopters from the aircraft carrier Lincoln are dropping supplies to stricken Indonesian villages today, but they're no longer alone in the relief effort. Choppers and planes from Australia, Singapore, and from the Indonesian capitol of Jakarta are also bringing in supplies.

The donor nations will meet on Thursday in Jakarta to coordinate relief efforts. And as we reported, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will attend that meeting. $2 billion is pledged so far, but the U.N. says more will be needed.

HARRIS: In much of Sri Lanka, heavy rains have unleashed new problems. Flash floods have washed over refugee camps and wiped away makeshift homes. That's triggered a new exodus inland.

Meanwhile, the nationwide crisis has forced an uneasy truce between the Tamil Tiger rebel group and Sri Lanka's government. After 20 years of civil war, leaders on both sides are vowing to work together.

CNN's Stan Grant is the only broadcast journalist to report from rebel held territory. He joins us via videophone for a story you'll see only on CNN -- Stan?

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi. I'm at one of the relief centers here, where they gather the aid to take to the thousands of victims who've been affected by the tsunami.

Now what makes this so extensive is as you pointed out, we are talking very much conscious about a disaster zone, but a war zone. Now this territory is now held by the Tamil Tiger rebels.

This is a group that is listed by the United States, as a terrorist organization, but an organization that is now turning to live savers to try to help those people, their people, that have been so devastated by the tsunami.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRANT (voice-over): A TV camera will almost always bring a smile to a child's face, even here among children whose eyes have seen more suffering than any child should.

They are huddled here together in a makeshift refugee camp. 1,000 people here all escaped the tsunami that flattened their town of Molativu (ph) in Sri Lanka's north.

They need the essentials of life. Clean water, food, and clothing. None of it can come quickly enough. Across the hall, Tamil Tiger rebel stronghold of the north and east. There are nearly 700,000 people homeless and struggling to survive. The Tamil Tigers and relief groups say the death toll is nearing 20,000. The number of missing another 20,000. The death toll they say is expected to rise to at least 40,000 in the coming days.

KARDIN ARATHAM, REV., SECRETARY ON HUMAN RIGHTS: It's a problem because they lost their life from the (UNINTELLIGIBLE.)

GRANT: Everywhere, there are reminders of death. The bodies of the dead cremated. Here we come across a mass grave. Each dirt mound, another tsunami victim. There are hundreds here alone.

(on camera): These are not just mass graves. They're reminders of the living because everyone of the hundreds of people who are buried here lived and then died so suddenly in that tsunami. And they've all left someone behind to deal with the grief.

(voice-over): Tamil political leaders say first two decades of civil war now this has shattered these people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): These people were just about to re-establish themselves. And especially the population that was living along the coastline are mostly fishing population. And they have lost almost everything that can be called anything for a livelihood.

GRANT: But life is about the little things. Even here with all lost, kids still play like kids. And men still deal their cards and gamble on site.

Stan Grant, CNN, Molativu (ph) Relief Camp, Northern Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRANT: Now I know that we talk a lot about the relief that's getting here. And so much of it is coming from the Tamil diaspora. A lot of those people living in the United States. They've been concerned that the goods that they're sending or the money they're donating is not actually getting to the ground. Well, it is starting to trickle through.

Yes, it's a complicated process. You are dealing with the rebel group. And they do need to deal very closely with the aid agencies themselves. They want to control what comes in and what goes out.

But it is starting to get through. And just an example, if you wondered what's in an average sort of relief pack, this is a fairly good example of one now. And I'll open it up and have a look inside. You can see there's some clothing here, a sarong. There are some little packets of food. There are some tin goods here, matches, candles. Also, there's some rice as well.

These are the types of things that these people require, the basic food stuffs, the water, the clothing. And just as an added point, there are probably 600,000 to 700,000 people who have now been displaced, left home as a result of that tsunami, stretching right along the north and the east of Sri Lanka, which is in the Tamil rebel held territory -- Tony?

HARRIS: Very good, Stan. Stan Grant reporting for us this morning. Stan, thank you.

U.S. Coast Guard units in California are joining the relief efforts with both supplies and manpower. A C-130 cargo plane left yesterday to pick up food, water, medicine and other supplies in Honolulu. It joins another plan today for the trip to Thailand. Strike teams will be on board to assess the region's needs and establish safe water supplies. The Coast Guard cutter will also accompany the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln carrier group to the area.

KAYE: Sri Lanka is the second hardest hit nation in the region with a death toll second only to Indonesia. Earlier today, the death toll in Sri Lanka surged yet again. It now exceeds 46,000. More than 5,000 people still missing.

In the aftermath of the devastation in Sri Lanka, people are in desperate need of food, water, and other basic necessities. So let's talk about the recovery efforts there.

Joining us is a veteran relief worker and a consultant to the United Nations and World Bank. Arul Pulendran is now with the Sathya Sai Organization and is looking not only at the immediate needs of the region, but also the rebuilding need to assure its future recovery.

He joins us by telephone from Colombo, Sri Lanka. Good morning, Mr. Pulendran. I want to ask you. It was one week ago today the tsunami struck southern Asia. What is the situation there in Sri Lanka this morning?

ARUL PULENDRAN, SATHYA SAI: That's right. Thank you very much. Well, things are not as good as they could be. They could be definitely infinitely better. But still, to be hopeful.

There is a lot of strife. There is a lot of people without shelter. People are virtually living under trees. And there is the monsoon that have set in. And people are living in overcrowded churches, temples, and even under trees.

And with the monsoon, people are virtually in their wet clothes. They have been wearing the same clothes that they wore on day one. Water is an acute problem. Pollution -- water has got pollute -- water in all the wells and stacked with bodies. And there is the intrusion of sea water. Absolutely critical -- water situation, drinking water.

KAYE: So do you know...

PULENDRAN: Food is another serious problem. Yes?

KAYE: Is it the aid that isn't there? Or is it trouble with getting the aid, whether it's due to washed out roads, or landing strips that might be under water? Is the aid there and just can't get to the people?

PULENDRAN: Yes, aid is coming in, but not as fast as it could be. And it's also not reaching the affected people. Sometimes aid gets diverted to other places.

KAYE: I know that...

PULENDRAN: It's a serious problem.

KAYE: You've taken part in humanitarian efforts around the world. How would you say that this crisis measures up to those?

PULENDRAN: This crisis is infinitely greater than any of those I have witnesses earlier. And it is a terrific challenge, I think, to not only to us Sri Lankans, but to all -- people all over the world. I think this is the worst disaster in living memory in a lifetime of anybody. Yes?

KAYE: What is -- I'm just curious what your typical day is like there? You're part of this massive relief effort.

PULENDRAN: Right.

KAYE: Who are you talking to? And what is it like just going from -- and how are you getting around there? And what are you seeing?

PULENDRAN: I'm getting around beyond -- you cannot go beyond Colombo, 30 miles beyond Colombo towards Galle, because the road is cut up, broken. Bridges are damaged at least in the south.

In the west, roads in the north and east, there has been intense -- there has been a war raging for the last 20 years. Infrastructure has been damaged. Roads are damaged. Bridges have been blown up. So it's difficult to get about in the eastern province, where there's a lot of relief work to be done. This is a serious problem that hampers aid work.

And another very serious problem is the problem that arises due to land mines, which have been washed out of mine fields. And even here, the warning signs have been displaced. So this frustrates all attempts to reach the affected people.

KAYE: OK. Arul Pulendran...

PULENDRAN: Yes.

KAYE: ...from Sathya Sai in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Thank you for joining us this morning.

The tragedies also transcending religious differences. Both Christian churches and Buddhist temples filled with worshipers today. They prayed for the tsunami's thousands of victims, both living and dead and sought solace from their fates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mothers, fathers that were, you know, I can't even talk about it. It's too sad. Who had lost all of their children, who had lost their whole families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: A plea to help tsunami victims brings Hollywood stars and Bollywood stars together.

KAYE: And New Year's Eve partiers were gambling on this. Now the party's over, but getting out of town might be the real headache. Both stories ahead on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: It's an effort to save the youngest victims of the Asian tsunami. Find out what must be done and how you can help when we talk to the president of Save the Children in the next hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Two men are in jail in suburban Columbus, Ohio, accused of invading a home and forcing an elderly man to withdraw a cache from a bank. Tellers got suspicious and called police, who chased one of the suspects, until he crashed the victim's car. No one was seriously hurt.

In Minot, North Dakota, 36 children have been injured while riding cardboard boxes down a snowy hill, which was clearly marked no sledding. Three of the children are hospitalized in stable condition. The boxes crashed during an all night New Year's Eve party hosted by a Christian youth group.

The temperature hit 50 degrees yesterday in Boston. Not unprecedented, but certainly unusual for New Year's Day. Look at this sight. It's credited with bringing 700 people to the 101st annual Polar Swim organized by the L Street Brownie Swim Club. It was one of several polar plunges around the country on the first day of 2005.

Also getting a New Year's break from the weather, the 116th Annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, the daddy of the ball. The weather had been stormy all week, but the skies cleared just in time for the parade. The floats remained intact. And thousands of spectators remained dry.

Have you had enough college football yet? Of course not. The Orange Bowl is still two days away. We'll have a preview of the really big game just ahead.

KAYE: Time now to take a look at some of the stories we'll be following in the week ahead. Monday, a U.S. delegation has its first full day of touring the devastation in South Asia to assess humanitarian needs from the tsunami disaster.

Secretary of State Colin Powell and Florida Governor Jeb Bush are heading that group. Also Monday, Congress returns to work from its holiday recess. The session is mostly a formality. Lawmakers will then adjourn until formal sessions reopen after the presidential inauguration set for January 20th.

And Wednesday in Houston, Texas, jury selection begins in the trial of a man charged in the country's deadliest human smuggling attempt. Tyrone Williams is accused of abandoning dozens of immigrants inside a sweltering tractor trailer. 19 of them died. Some of the charges Williams is facing carry a possible death penalty.

HARRIS: Well stars of a weekly TV show broadcast overseas organized a four hour New Year's Day telethon in Los Angeles. They appealed for contributions to two relief groups operating in the South Asian disaster area.

Miguel Marquez has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shiraz Hassan and his wife Zerina Ramzan are stars of their own weekly show called "Tinseltown."

SHIRAZ HASSAN, TV SHOW HOST: Basically we have a show that's -- that brings the biggest stars from Hollywood, biggest stars from Bollywood. Also we...

ZERINA RAMZAN, TV SHOW HOST: East Meets West.

HASSAN: East Meets West.

RAMZAN: West Meets East.

HASSAN: Celebrities...

RAMZAN: No scandal, no gossip.

MARQUEZ: Though you may not have heard of them, they say their "Tinseltown" reaches half a billion people in 130 countries every week.

Today, they're putting their talent toward four hours of live television.

HASSAN: We have to donate now.

MARQUEZ: A telethon raising money for tsunami victims.

HASSAN: If I know that we can heal people, some part of the world, that is our focus.

MARQUEZ: The telethon was broadcast to the country's largest Asian population living in and around Los Angeles. On a normal Saturday, KSCI airs news, entertainment and paid programming to an Asian audience. PETER MATHES, CEO, ASIA MEDIA GROUP: We're not a station that normally does this. Shiraz has never done live television. So you know, we're sort of learning as we go here, but everybody's hearts in the right place.

MARQUEZ: It's like the little show that could. Everyone pitching in, hoping to make a difference to those who need it most.

Marg Helgenberger stars in the hit CBS show "CSI." She and her actor husband, Alan Rosenberg, stopped in to make a pitch. She's says the tsunami cut such a deep path of devastation across Asia, volunteering part of her New Year's Day was easy.

MARG HELGENBERGER: Mothers, fathers that were, you know, I can't even talk about it. It's too sad. Who had lost all of their children, who had lost their whole families.

MARQUEZ: The telethon made the pitch for two charities already operating in every country affected -- World Vision and the American Red Cross. More help for tragedy that seems to have no end.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: The still growing tsunami aftermath is creating a dire situation for those in need. If you'd like to help, the organization CARE is accepting donations and can be reached via the Internet or by phone.

The American Red Cross is also sending money for relief through its international response fund. The relief group Oxfam has set up an Asia Earthquake Fund. And Unicef is accepting money through its general emergency fund.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Good morning, D.C. Rob Marciano will tell you what kind of weather to expect in just a minute. What a nice picture there.

But for now, a question in Nevada. Why might skiers, gamblers, and New Year's party goers have in common? Well, they're all trying to escape that mess that you're looking at right there. Several feed of snow in Reno is complicating post-holiday travel plans for so many. It is the heaviest snowfall in Reno in nearly 15 years. And worse, the Sierra Nevada region is expected to get as much as 18 more inches of snow today.

HARRIS: Not -- I guess they kind of -- they get that a little bit, right? A little bit of snow out there, it's not a -- OK, all right.

(WEATHER REPORT) HARRIS: Are you ready for more football? Well, just ahead, we're taking you beyond the game for a preview of the National College Championship Game.

KAYE: And later, stay close. We go live to Phuket, Thailand, and our own Aneesh Raman.

Good morning, Aneesh.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Coming up, I'll speak with the Thai prime minister about Secretary of State Colin Powell's impending visit to the region.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Nine members of this man's family swept away in Sri Lanka, just one of the tragic stories from the tsunami disaster.

Welcome back and good morning. I'm Randi Kaye in for Betty Nguyen.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. That story in a minute.

First, a look at what's new this morning. Secretary of State Colin Powell heads later today to South Asia to view the devastation firsthand and assess needs. Powell is leading a U.S. delegation, along with President Bush's brother, Jeb Bush, as the governor of Florida coordinated relief efforts after a string of hurricanes in his state.

In Iraq north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber has struck again this time. The bomber was actually driving the bus, carrying Iraqi national guardsmen. The explosion outside a coalition base near Balad killed 18 soldiers and a civilian Iraqi woman.

In Afghanistan, a U.S. soldier and a former Afghan militia leader were killed earlier today when a search erupted into gunfire. The U.S. military says U.S. troops were searching a compound in western Afghanistan when the Americans came under attack.

California's bracing for more severe weather, after a week long series of storms pounded the state from one end to the other. The latest system could bring up to three feet of snow to the higher elevations of the sierras.

KAYE: The overall death toll from the earthquake and tsunamis is rising more slowly than it was last week. 138,000 reported dead Saturday, 141,000 now. The toll will continue to climb, though, because thousands of people are still listed as missing.

U.S. Navy Seahawk helicopters from the aircraft carrier Abe Lincoln are dropping supplies to stricken Indonesian villages today. But they're no longer alone in that relief effort. Choppers and planes from Australia, Singapore, and from the Indonesian capitol of Jakarta are also bringing in supplies. And U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is one of the high level delegates who will meet Thursday in Jakarta. Donor nations will work on coordinating relief efforts. So far, $2 billion has been pledged to help.

HARRIS: A week after the tsunamis swept away thousands of people along Thailand's coastline, survivors prayed for the dead today. Dozens of mourners gathered at a Catholic church in Phuket. Some spoke of putting the tragedy behind them.

CNN's Aneesh Raman is following this story from Phuket. And he joins us now with more -- Aneesh?

RAMAN: Tony, good morning to you. That really is the scene here on Phuket Island, attempting to really try and put this tragedy behind them. They've had some semblance of buildings that remain standing. They have everything they think they need to try and move forward.

Now earlier today, we caught up with the Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He told me that things were going very well in terms of the relief effort. They had everything they needed.

I also asked him of Secretary Powell's impending visit here to Thailand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THAKSIN SHINAWATRA, THAI PRIME MINISTER: Thailand is not really expect anything from international, except the understanding and the cooperation.

But now we received more than we expect. That is a lot of expert and equipments that come in to help us. That's all what we need. We don't need any financial assistance.

I think what we think that the expertise that they have, because we have no experience like this before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAMAN: Now Tony, he said the biggest hurdle they were facing right now are those corpses, now some seven days under rubble. Contamination still a major fear. And with thousands of people missing and many of them presumed dead, it is likely there will be a large number of bodies found as the rubble cleared from those outlying areas -- Tony?

HARRIS: Aneesh, what are the latest numbers on the missing and dead foreigners in Thailand and Phuket?

RAMAN: Right now, it stands at about 6,500. We know that of that, a good number of foreign tourists. We even know that about 3500 are specifically Swedish tourists. It's a big time for them to come. Some 15,000 come here between Christmas and New Year's.

We asked the Thai prime minister about those numbers. He told us that he thought it perhaps might even go down, given that a large part of that could be people that are unaccounted for, that are alive and well, just not known to the government.

Also, duplicate reporting. People reporting let's say their sister missing at multiple locations. That, in some cases, gets counted as four people, rather than one.

At the same time, this is a man who earlier in the week said that he thought the death toll here, which now stands at about 5,000, could rise to as high as 8,000. Other reports suggesting it could double. That would all be because of the missing, who would in fact they presume, be found dead -- Tony?

HARRIS: Just amazing numbers. Aneesh Raman on Phuket Island in Thailand. Aneesh, thank you.

KAYE: An Ohio man from Sri Lanka is struggling to cope with what seems like an incomprehensible loss. Nine of his relatives, including his mother, father, and brothers were killed with the tsunami crashed ashore in Sri Lanka.

Shelly Crenshaw of our affiliate station WBNS in Columbus has that report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHELLY CRENSHAW, WBNS NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tuyan Samsudeen looks at home movies taken at his parent's Sri Lankan home last year. Today his home and village of Hemantota (ph) now washed away by a killer tidal wave, taking nine of his family members along with it.

TUYAN SAMSUDEEN, LOST FAMILY IN TSUNAMI: Really, it's very hard for me to bear this, what happened.

CRENSHAW: Losing his mom...

SAMSUDEEN: She passed away.

CRENSHAW: ...dad, three brothers, a niece, two nephews, and a sister-in-law. Lives cut short because of the tsunami.

SAMSUDEEN: I felt like I'm alone because there is nobody once I go home. Not only my family, my friends, my relatives.

CRENSHAW: His wife Razana also struggles with losing some of her family. But her parents live with them in Hilliard. She says this holiday season has been tough to bear.

RAZANA SAMSUDEEN, WIFE: So many of them lost, their parents, and the parents lost their children. It's hard.

CRENSHAW: The family stays strong because of prayer and support and keeping on eye on little Shaquil.

T. SAMSUDEEN: Right now, I'm little bit all right but -- because I have a baby. At least I'm trying to keep -- to be with him all the time.

CRENSHAW: Tuyan says he will need that strength when he flies home to put family members in their final resting place.

T. SAMSUDEEN: Find out the real places of my parents, my brothers, then pray for them. Then my friends.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: The death toll for Sri Lanka has risen to more than 46,000 people.

HARRIS: A week later. Boy.

It is the largest National Guard deployment Texas has seen since the second World War. Details next on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

KAYE: And we are taking your e-mails this morning. Tell us what, in your opinion, is the biggest challenge facing the U.S. in 2005? We are at wam@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: In Waco, Texas, marching orders for some 3,000 members of a Texas National Guard, who will be heading for Iraq. That's the most guardsmen deployed from the state since World War II. They got a rousing send off yesterday from about 25,000 family and friends gathered at Baylor University Stadium. Each soldier was given a phone card with more than two hours of free calls.

KAYE: Those fresh recruits are sure to face some tough challenges in Iraq. Their medal will be tested under circumstances they can only imagine. Even mundane routines might unexpectedly turn into moments of singular heroism.

Here's CNN's Jeff Koinange with one such story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sergeant Eric Wroblewski is proud to be a member of the U.S. Army's 705th EOD, a unit responsible for defusing bombs and mines.

On Tuesday, December 21st, he had joined friends for lunch in the mess hall at Camp Morez in Mosul.

SGT. ERIC WROBLEWSKI, U.S. ARMY: I got up to go get some pizza. And on my way back is when the explosion occurred. The explosion knocked me to the ground. I got up, found my glasses as soon as possible. There were about two feet behind me and...

KOINANGE: Instinct took over.

WROBLEWSKI: I ran around, grabbing aprons from some of the workers, taking their aprons off them because they didn't need them. We were using anything we could. I don't have my -- I already took my video top off by then. Anything we could use to just stop the bleeding.

KOINANGE: The mess hall, he says, was filled with pandemonium. In this photograph taken by a journalist visiting the base, Wroblewski rushes to the aid of his fallen colleagues.

WROBLEWSKI: Specialist Hewitt was opposite side of the table from me, right across from me. And we sat there, I mean, that was our normal sitting spot. We always sat in the same area. That way, if somebody came late, they would know where to find us. And they didn't have to sit alone.

I went in one more time to look for Specialist Hewitt. I couldn't find him. And he was dead when he arrived at the hospital.

KOINANGE: Every day, he struggles with vivid memories of those moments.

WROBLEWSKI: Just to see that hole just reminds me of the fire ball. I mean, the fire ball was so big. I was very lucky. If I didn't get up to get pizza, I could either be with Specialist Hewitt right now or recovering next to Sergeant Vaud (ph).

This right here is Specialist Hewitt.

KOINANGE: Wroblewski is struggling to come to terms with the loss of his best buddy.

WROBLEWSKI: Specialist Hewitt was a really good soldier. He was a really good friend. I know it's hard, but I hope they're proud of what he was doing, because he was really proud of what he was doing and to be here.

The last thing Specialist said to me, we were talking about my wife actually. And he said your wife made some really good pancakes. And that's when I told him I was going to get more pizza. That was the last thing he said to me.

KOINANGE: Jeff Koinange, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And we bring you heroes stories every week on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

HARRIS: Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose, Bowl, college football fan? Well, if you're into the bowl mania, here's the man with all the answers. Really? He's the guy with the...

KAYE: That's what they tell us.

HARRIS: Oh, man, our bowl guru, Rick Horrow, will take us beyond the game next on CNN SUNDAY. Hey, Rick, Happy New Year.

RICK HORROW, AUTHOR, "WHEN THE GAME IS ON THE LINE": Yes, Happy New Year. You're going to get yours, man.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Checking our top stories, here are the new developments on the killer tsunamis. The death toll has climbed to more than 141,000 throughout the stricken areas of South Asia. Rescuers in Indonesia say they'll soon call off their search for survivors.

Secretary of State Colin Powell leaves today on the U.S. mission to the region. He'll review the damage and assess what additional aid can be provided by the U.S.

And President Bush calls for the nation's flags to be flown at half staff beginning tomorrow. It is part of a five day tribute to the quake and tsunami victims.

And don't forget our e-mail question this morning. We are asking you what's the biggest challenge facing America in 2005? Tell us what you think. We are at wam@cnn.com. And we'll be reading your replies throughout the morning.

HARRIS: OK, we are two days away from the granddaddy of them all, the Fedex Orange Bowl. But there's a chance four unbeaten teams will remain at the end of the championship game? How did that happen?

Time to go beyond the game with the author of "When the Game is on the Line." Sports analyst Rick Horrow joins us from West Palm Beach, Florida. Are you -- do you know where you are, your time zones, what all this traveling you've been doing?

HORROW: Back in the own bed for the first time in four days. Here's the relevant thing.

HARRIS: Yes.

HORROW: Six bowl games, six cities...

HARRIS: Oh, my.

HORROW: ...400,000 attendance, 382 points, a quarter of a billion dollars of economic impact.

HARRIS: Yes.

HORROW: And the big number is eight, which is the pounds I gained from eating press box food.

HARRIS: That's some nasty stuff. OK, so here's the schedule. We had two games yesterday in this whole BCS thing, right?

HORROW: Yes.

HARRIS: We've got another game tomorrow, right?

HORROW: Tomorrow. And then the biggie Tuesday night in Miami.

HARRIS: OK. Will we know by the end of the game on Tuesday who the national champ is? HORROW: It is a definite maybe. And the reason we say that is because Utah won last night in the Fiesta Bowl Tostito. Auburn may win tomorrow night. So we'll have at least two undefeated teams and maybe even three.

We thought about that since the beginning of football time.

HARRIS: Yes.

HORROW: You know, Tony, there have been 11 disputed split national champions in the last 50 years. We've had the bowl coalition, the bowl championship series, all because we like a winner.

And the problem is we really don't come to grips with the fact that average 600 games this year, we're going to have at least two teams that say we were undefeated. Why not us?

HARRIS: OK, so you know, they're killing the sport with this thing. And I know there's a lot of money to be made. And that's part of the reason why we're in the mess that we're in right now. But if you're a diehard football fan, you want that clear definitive champ at the end of the season. So I want you to make the affirmative case for keeping the BCS. Can you do that?

HORROW: Yes, I can. Three arguments -- money, money, and more money.

HARRIS: OK.

HORROW: ABC spent more $900 million over six years. Fox has another $300 million. So the system is locked in until 2014.

Corporations love it. Tostitos sponsored the Fiesta Bowl last night. They spent $30 million over five years. The National Championship Game for them gets them $80 million of exposure.

HARRIS: Wow.

HORROW: And the colleges like it, because they get $600 million of payment. And 95 percent goes to the have teams, meaning the big conferences.

Utah broke through last night. They get a $17 million payout. But for the most part, the system is locked in. There will be minor tweaking. Water cooler conversation, but it ain't going to change that much.

HARRIS: Well, are you with me though that we do have this need, this sense of wanting to have one definitive champ? And when you have a system that factors so many things in here, that it kind of waters down the final result? Are you with me on that?

HORROW: Yes, waters down is probably a good answer, because water cooler conversation on this stuff is natural.

There's 74 million of us football fans who are avid and watch TV. And we love talking about who wins. But it's a $5 billion business.

HARRIS: Yes.

HORROW: And we also like to talk about who came in second and who could have won.

You know, in Division II, the other leagues in college football, they have a playoff. And they play 15 games. So the argument about having too many games is bogus.

The real argument is that the colleges want to keep the money they have and not take the risk of even making more money. And as long as we have that controversy, I would say it's pretty good for college football only because we've tried six times. We're going to tweak it again. And it's not going to do anything better to have that definitive champion. So we're just going to have to suck it up and cross that (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

HARRIS: OK, you've made the affirmative case. The Associated Press wants its poll factored out of the whole BCS mess because it's just a mess. Make the case for why the BCS should go?

HORROW: Well, it's an economic leverage case like everything else in business. The bottom line is there's a lot of musical chairs around conferences. Notre Dame just signed a $9 million deal with NBC. And they're not worthy of that top spot unless they get better very quickly. And even the House Judiciary Committee, by the way Tony, weighed in last year probably because California legislators were upset because SC got shut out of the game.

But the bottom line is the more hearings, the more tweaking, advertisers are spending $100 billion in advertising of all kinds over the next year. So they're going to try to figure out how to have that definitive game.

There will be a fifth BCS game that's in the works.

HARRIS: I see.

HORROW: Will it be a fifth game after the first four for the national championship? Or will it be another qualifier? We're going to see.

But there is some change in the offing. The question is how much. And as long as we keep talking about it, like I said, it's probably good for college football.

I said at the beginning of December, we were going to talk about this everyday.

HARRIS: You did.

HORROW: ...until Tuesday, the 4th. And you know what? I love saying this. I was right.

HARRIS: Yes. And you know what? You're right about this, too. It all seems to come down to the dollar. There he is, Rick Horrow, taking you beyond the game.

Rick, good to see you. See you next week.

HORROW: Talk to you next week, man.

HARRIS: OK.

KAYE: Thanks, Tony. See you got your Bowl preview? Now we have your weather preview for you for your Sunday weather. Good morning again, Rob.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Let us get to our e-mail question of the morning. What's the biggest challenge facing America in 2005? And we want to thank you for your responses so far this morning.

KAYE: And here is one of those responses, "coming to a political consensus on finding a workable Social Security solution, and the serious tax reform that will be required in the process." That's from Bryan.

HARRIS: And this from Dave. "If you combine red and blue you get purple. Therefore our biggest challenge as a nation is to quit thinking about red states and blue states and all strive to become purple states so that we can be one nation again."

And we want to thank you for your e-mails so far, and encourage you to send more along. Wam@cnn.com is our address. And the question, what's the biggest challenge facing America in 2005?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: From the CNN Center this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is January 2nd, 8 a.m. at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta, 5 a.m. on the West Coast. Good morning everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

KAYE: And I'm Randi Kaye in for Betty Nguyen. Thanks for being with us.

HARRIS: And now in the news. Secretary of State Colin Powell is leading a U.S. delegation to the areas hardest hit a week ago by the tsunamis. The president's brother, Florida governor, Jeb Bush is also part of the team.

They'll get a first hand look at what will be the world's largest disaster relief mission in decades. Powell appears on CNN's "LATE EDITION" at noon eastern time to mark the tragic loss of life in South Asia.

American flags at U.S. government facilities will be lowered to half staff. President Bush's order issued through his weekly radio address goes into effect tomorrow and last through Friday.

In Iraq at least 18 Iraqi soldiers were killed when a suicide attacker rammed their bus with a car bomb rigged to it. It happened this morning outside a coalition bass near Balad north of Baghdad. An Iraqi woman was also killed. Six other Iraqi troops were wounded.

KAYE: Here's a look now -- a quick look at some other stories coming up this hour. The world rushes desperately needed aid to tsunami survivors. It's a massive relief effort. But is it just a drop in an ocean of need? We'll cover tsunami aid throughout the hour.

Also ahead life saving relief for children affected by the killer tsunamis. Save the Children talks about its response to the catastrophe in south Asia.

And Faces of Faith the spotlight is on the late Reggie White, a player and a preacher. A force to be reckoned on the football field and off.

HARRIS: Top story this hour, an unbelievable toll of victims and an unprecedented amount of aid. CNN is keeping track of all of the latest developments one week after the tsunami disaster.

Here's the latest. The death toll now stands at over 141,000. And that toll is likely to keep climbing with thousands of people still listed as missing.

Meanwhile a global sense of grief has caused a world of giving. The United Nations says $2 billion in aid has been pledged so far. The region will also get some high level visitors. Secretary of State Colin Powell. In Florida Governor Jeb Bush will lead a delegation there today. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan will also pay a visit.

KAYE: Among all the nations so hard hit by the disaster, Indonesia perhaps received the worst devastation. The number of dead there is closing in on 80,000. Our Mike Chinoy is in that country and joins us for the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is what a town looks like when it has literally been wiped off the face of the earth. I'm walking through a place called I'm walking through a place called Loknai (ph).

Until a week ago it was a pleasant community of about 3,000 people. It was people who liked to live by the sea, which is just a few hundred meters a way. But then the tsunami came in and wiped out everything in its path. All you can see in any direction as far as you look is devastation.

One of the things that was destroyed was the main bridge linking the provincial capital of Banda Aceh with the western coast, the area that was worst hit by the tsunami. As a result, land transportation to these badly affected areas has been made impossible. Just on the other side was an Indonesian army base. There were about 270 Indonesian soldiers there with their families, their wives and children. Twelve of them survived. That's what we are told.

Further down the coast, the devastation is even greater . And we have been told about a town called Chilon (ph) that was also completely obliterated. However, a small group of survivors, members of the Indonesian army garrison, did manage to weather the disaster by running into the hills and mountains.

When they returned to Chilon they found this boat, which had been out at sea during the storm. They managed to repair a radio and alert the Indonesian military here And on Sunday they left Chilon and took a trip lasting about eight hours until they arrived here.

Many of them were badly injured with cuts, bruises, infections, all kinds of physical damage and it was very clear you could see as well a lot of emotional trauma. They said nothing is left of Chilon. They were met by Indonesian soldiers here and taken to refugee camps to be patched up and cared for.

There's a kind of eerie wind blowing all along this coastal area where we've been most of the day. And sometimes when the wind really picks up you can still smell the stench of decaying bodies in the air.

Mike Chinoy, CNN, Loknai, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: With so many in need in the wake of the disaster, the plight of children is getting special attention. In just a few minutes Charles MacCormack of the group Save the Children joins us for an update on the efforts to save the youngest survivors.

HARRIS: For now here are the latest developments on the relief efforts. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is expected to tour the devastation in Asia on Thursday. Today an emergency airlift is underway by the Untied Nations refugee agency to get hundreds of tons of supplies into Indonesia.

The urgently needed aid will go to the hardest hit northern province of Aceh and should cover about 100,000 people.

Meantime U.S. Navy helicopters are dropping supplies to stricken Indonesian villages today. But they are no longer alone in the relief effort. Choppers and planes from Australia, Singapore and from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta are also bringing supplies.

And in some parts of the devastated regions relief workers are using some heavy duty help. Take a look at this. They're using elephants to clear away debris in Indonesia and southern Thailand.

KAYE: Within the larger world of the unbelievable amount of devastation brought on by the disaster there are millions of smaller tales about those affected. The lost brother, the surviving sister and certainly the children. Our Jeanne Meserve brings us one story of a man and his mission still struggling to survive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIYANA SANDERS: We wish you and your family many prayers throughout this tragedy.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mail has brought Diyana Sanders condolences and checks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a check for $100, for $800, $500, $230.

MESERVE: In one day, a total of $7,400 to rebuild the orphanage Diyana's brother Daylan Sanders established on a sliver of seaside in Sri Lanka in 1994.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's just 10 years old and she's been with us just a couple of months.

MESERVE: Daylan left a comfortable life in the U.S., selling his home to finance the building of the orphanage, and help the children in his native country.

SAMALAN SANDERS, DAYLAN'S MOTHER: Since he was a little boy, he was always a very caring person. He would collect money in a little purse and give it away to beggars.

MESERVE: Twenty-eight children found a home at the orphanage until last Sunday.

DAYLAN SANDERS, FOUNDER, DIRECTOR SAMARITAN CHILDREN'S HOME: There are no words in human speech to describe what we saw. It was a 30-foot wall of sea just bearing down on us like an angry monster.

MESERVE: Daylan crammed the orphans and his family into one small boat, which uncharacteristically started on the first try.

DIYANA SANDERS: The boat capacity was only 15 people. There were like 32, 33 people crammed in there, trying to get across the lagoon to the city, and there were all dead bodies in this lagoon, and there were people holding on to rafters and branches and screaming to them and asking them to help them.

MESERVE: Daylan and the children survived. The orphanage did not.

KANYA SANDERS, DAYLAN'S SISTER: It's been incomprehensible and just, you know, mind-blowing. But we are so, so thankful and grateful to God that they were saved so miraculously.

MESERVE: Daylan's family and friends in Maryland immediately set about raising the estimated $400,000 it will take to rebuild the orphanage. Two newspaper stories have helped generate a torrent of calls... UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Samaritan Home Relief, how can I help you?

MESERVE: ...and contributions.

DIYANA SANDERS: One thousand five hundred. Amazing. My sympathy to you and to your fellow countrymen from Sri Lanka. I hope this gift will help towards building the orphanage.

MESERVE: An orphanage that Sri Lanka needs now more than ever before.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: For more now on the plight of the children across all of the affected regions we are joined by Charles MacCormack. He is president of the group Save the Children and he joins us this morning from New York.

Good morning Mr. MacCormack. Good to have you with us.

CHARLES MACCORMACK, PRESIDENT, SAVE THE CHILDREN: Good morning. Thank you.

KAYE: There are so many children, so much need, so many problems to tend to there. How critical is the need right now and where is it?

MACCORMACK: Well lives are on the line as we speak because of the threat of disease malaria, typhus, typhoid. So it's very crucial that clean water food and medicine be provided immediately.

KAYE: And what is it that Save the Children does provide?

MACCORMACK: We are providing all the necessities of life shelter, food, clean water, medicine, protection and reuniting children with their families throughout the region.

KAYE: With communications so difficult there though and so many areas so hard to get to how do you assess where to go first?

MACCORMACK: Well fortunately the communications have really built up and we have satellite telephones and we have been in Aceh for 30 years so we have experienced staff and partners throughout the province. And they have been communicating throughout the week.

So fortunately our communications with Indonesia and Sri Lanka are quite good now.

KAYE: You see so many of the faces of the children in the videos that we've been seeing over the last week. What is it that your workers there on the ground can say to these kids to help them understand what has happened?

I know that you're not there obviously to counsel them, but what can you offer in terms of that? MACCORMACK: Well fortunately we do have trained Indonesian counselors available to meet with these children. But it's very important to create a sense of normalcy right away. So we have established large tents where children can gather.

There are activities for then in Sri Lanka and there will be within a day or two in Indonesia, so they could have some sense that life has returned to normal.

KAYE: Is it your understanding that a lot of these kids do understand what has happened there?

MACCORMACK: They certainly understand that their lives have been disrupted, that in many cases their families are lost. But they are always very resilient. And so long as we can reunite them with their families, provide them with stability and a sense of normal life our experience shows that they will revive and flourish again in the future.

KAYE: Now I know that Save the Children is not directly involved with adoptions, but there is a program called Family Reunification. What takes place there?

MACCORMACK: It's very important to reconnect children who have lost their immediate parents with aunts and uncles and grandparents and members of their extended family so the sense of returning to normal can be recreated for them.

KAYE: All right. Plenty of work ahead for Save the children. Charles MacCormack, president and CEO thanks so much for being with us on this Sunday morning.

MACCORMACK: Thank you very much.

HARRIS: Millions of people are opening their hearts and their wallets to help the victims of this tragedy. If you'd like to help the organization CARE is accepting donations and can be reached via the Internet or phone.

And UNICEF is accepting money through its general emergency fund.

The World Health Organization says there could be a second chapter to this tragedy. It's easily conceivable that another 50,000 people could die from diseases and other causes stemming from the disaster. In fact, crisis chief David Nabarro says as many as five million people are not able to access what they need for living.

He was a player and a preacher whose death came unexpectedly. Ahead in our Faces of Faith segment, remembering Reggie White as a member of God's team.

KAYE: And we want to hear from you on our e-mail question of the day. What is the biggest challenge facing America in 2005? Send your comments to wam@cnn.com and we'll be sure to read some of them during the show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Checking our top stories right now. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Florida Governor Jeb Bush will leave today on a fact finding trip to areas ravaged by last Sunday's tsunamis. Powell will talk about that mission today at noon on CNN's "LATE EDITION" with Wolf Blitzer.

Rain is complicating the emergency relief efforts in south Asia. Flash floods dislodged about 2,000 tsunami victims at refugee camps in Sri Lanka.

And in Balad north of Baghdad 18 Iraqi soldiers aboard a bus were killed early today by a suicide bomber. The attacker rammed a car rigged as a bomb into the bus near a military base. An Iraqi woman was also killed. Six Iraqi soldiers were wounded.

HARRIS: And let's get you back to Rob Marciano for another check of the nation's weather this Sunday morning.

Good morning, Rob.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: He could run with the best of them on the field and he worked to inspire people off of it. Straight ahead in our Faces of Faith remember Reggie White as a member of God's team.

KAYE: And at the bottom of the hour a very special "HOUSE CALL" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta reporting from Sri Lanka, coping with disaster in the aftermath of the tsunami.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: As NFL Sunday gets underway today fans around the country will no doubt be thinking of one of the game's greatest players. Reggie White the former defensive lineman died last Sunday at the age of 43.

CNN's Steve Overmyer takes a look at White's impact both on and off the field.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE OVERMYER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You'd be hard pressed to find a competitor that put more fear in a quarterback than Reggie White. The 13 time pro bowler was perhaps the best defensive lineman ever, left he game as the NFL's all time sacks leader.

Sunday White passed away of unknown causes at the youthful age of 43.

MIKE HOLMGREN, COACHED WHITE IN GREEN BAY: He was a very special football player. Everyone knows that. Hall of Fame great player. But he was really a fine human being. I mean laughing, fun all the time, just a real pleasure. He was a wonderful man. OVERMYER: The fact he won two defensive MVP awards and helped the Green Bay Packers win Super Bowl XXXI left little doubt his intensity on the field. But his positive spirit and light hearted nature left an indelible mark on those who knew the man outside the lines.

JEFF FISHER, FMR. EAGLES DEFENSE COACH: I f it wasn't Elvis he was impersonating somebody in the locker room. It seemed like once a week he would walk into -- I'd walk into the defensive meeting and the meeting had already started and Reggie was running it.

OVERMYER: White was an ordained Christian minister earning him the nickname the minister of defense. As much of his life revolved around church and football, maybe it's no coincidence he passed on a Sunday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was a great player obviously, great man, great fried. We'll miss him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: The rough and tumble gridiron might be an unlikely place to find someone so devout in his religious convictions. So how did Reggie White approach his role as player and preacher?

Joining us now from Green Bay, Wisconsin, White's pastor Arni Jacobson. Pastor Jacobson, good to talk to you.

PASTOR ARNI JACOBSON: It's great to talk to you.

HARRIS: Maybe you could give us a sense of in general terms an answer to that question. How did Reggie White approach his work as a football player and his role as a pastor.

JACOBSON: I think you might want to reverse those roles. I think he saw himself first as a Christian and a man who loved God and really shared his faith. That was his number one. I always saw Reggie as someone who played football second and shared Christ first.

HARRIS: You know, he was such a menace on the football field and yet he is described by so many people as being calm, gentle, a giving and caring man away from it. Help us understand these two views of Reggie White.

JACOBSON: Well I think first of all he was probably the most loving and caring father that you'd ever want to see. His family was number one. And his celebrity status never ever got in the way of his love and concern for his family.

And then when he would speak at various places, and he spoke at our church a number of times because while he was here in Green Bay he attended our church with Sarah and the children., He would speak at our youth group. We have a youth group called 180 and there's hundreds of kids that attend there. He would just spend time with them.

He wouldn't rush out. It wasn't like the celebrity who came in and just did their deal and ran out the back door. He loved everybody. He just was very fiercely competitive when it came tot he football field. But very loving and caring, very strong convictions when it came to sharing his faith in a religious service, in the locker room, in the airport or wherever he was. It was just part of him.

HARRIS: Pastor let me have you address this. There was a moment in time, it seems to me, where Reggie White was set in a position to take on a national leadership role and then there were those comments before the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1998 where he made some comments that folks considered insensitive, talking about homosexuals, talking about blacks, talking about Mexicans.

How should we factor in those kind of comments that many felt were stereotypes? How should we factor that into the total picture of the man?

JACOBSON: It's hard to comment on that because a lot of those things were sound bytes coming out of that session at the sate assembly there. I just know that Reggie had a real heart for people. He took the word of God literally. So whatever it said he shared it.

I guess sometimes when you do that you're misunderstood or people will take and spin something off and try to get a different meaning on it. But I don't think that Reggie and who he was in the Lord and his (UNINTELLIGIBLE) can be judged by that one session there in Madison.

HARRIS: OK. Pastor Jacobson thanks for taking the time to talk to us this morning, as you prepare for Sunday worship service. We appreciate it. Thank you.

JACOBSON: Bye-bye.

HARRIS: Now we want to get to our e-mail question of the morning.

KAYE: And that question is, what is the biggest challenge facing America in 2005? And we've gotten a bunch of e-mails. We want to share one right now from Andy in Pennsylvania. And Andy writes, "The biggest challenge is obviously balancing security with civil rights while trying to encourage solid economical growth at the same time."

So keep those e-mails coming in. There's the question again for you. What's the biggest challenge facing America in 2005?

HARRIS: We'll take a break, but on the other side of that break "HOUSE CALL." A very special "HOUSE CALL" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. We'll see you back at the top of the hour.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired January 2, 2005 - 07:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is January 2nd, 7:00 a.m. here in the East and 4:00 a.m. out West.
And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, I'm Randi Kaye in for Betty Nguyen. Thanks for being with us.

A top level of U.S. team is just hours away from leaving for tsunami ravaged South Asia. A delegation, led by Secretary of State Colin Powell, leaves later today. Powell will look at relief needs and allocation of emergency aid.

His delegation will visit Indonesia, Thailand, and perhaps other countries hit a week ago by the huge waves.

Also headed for the disaster zone this week, U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan. He'll attend a donor's conference Thursday in the Indonesian capitol of Jakarta.

The international community has already pledged $2 billion in aid, including $350 million from the United States and $500 million from Japan.

President Bush ends his holiday vacation at his Texas ranch today and flies back to Washington. It was a quiet holiday break for the president, marked only by his condolences to families of south Asian victims and announcements of aid for the survivors.

Meanwhile, the president has ordered that all American flags be lowered to half staff this week in memory of the tsunami victims. The flags will be lowered starting on Monday.

HARRIS: Here are several excellent reasons to stay with us this hour. In a report you'll see only on CNN, we'll take you back inside rebel held territory in Sri Lanka to explain adversaries for putting aside their differences while they deal with tsunami crisis.

Also, a tiny ethnic TV station in Los Angeles makes a big play to help tsunami victims. And Hollywood lending star power to the cause.

And later, CNN's Ricardo analyzes this year's bowls games in which to expect at this year's granddaddy -- the championship game, the Orange Bowl. KAYE: And let's get straight to our top story, the latest developments in the tsunami disaster. The overall death toll is rising more slowly than it was last week. 138,000 reported dead Saturday morning. 141,000 now. The toll will continue to climb, though, because thousands of people are still listed as missing.

U.S. Navy Seahawk helicopters from the aircraft carrier Lincoln are dropping supplies to stricken Indonesian villages today, but they're no longer alone in the relief effort. Choppers and planes from Australia, Singapore, and from the Indonesian capitol of Jakarta are also bringing in supplies.

The donor nations will meet on Thursday in Jakarta to coordinate relief efforts. And as we reported, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will attend that meeting. $2 billion is pledged so far, but the U.N. says more will be needed.

HARRIS: In much of Sri Lanka, heavy rains have unleashed new problems. Flash floods have washed over refugee camps and wiped away makeshift homes. That's triggered a new exodus inland.

Meanwhile, the nationwide crisis has forced an uneasy truce between the Tamil Tiger rebel group and Sri Lanka's government. After 20 years of civil war, leaders on both sides are vowing to work together.

CNN's Stan Grant is the only broadcast journalist to report from rebel held territory. He joins us via videophone for a story you'll see only on CNN -- Stan?

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi. I'm at one of the relief centers here, where they gather the aid to take to the thousands of victims who've been affected by the tsunami.

Now what makes this so extensive is as you pointed out, we are talking very much conscious about a disaster zone, but a war zone. Now this territory is now held by the Tamil Tiger rebels.

This is a group that is listed by the United States, as a terrorist organization, but an organization that is now turning to live savers to try to help those people, their people, that have been so devastated by the tsunami.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRANT (voice-over): A TV camera will almost always bring a smile to a child's face, even here among children whose eyes have seen more suffering than any child should.

They are huddled here together in a makeshift refugee camp. 1,000 people here all escaped the tsunami that flattened their town of Molativu (ph) in Sri Lanka's north.

They need the essentials of life. Clean water, food, and clothing. None of it can come quickly enough. Across the hall, Tamil Tiger rebel stronghold of the north and east. There are nearly 700,000 people homeless and struggling to survive. The Tamil Tigers and relief groups say the death toll is nearing 20,000. The number of missing another 20,000. The death toll they say is expected to rise to at least 40,000 in the coming days.

KARDIN ARATHAM, REV., SECRETARY ON HUMAN RIGHTS: It's a problem because they lost their life from the (UNINTELLIGIBLE.)

GRANT: Everywhere, there are reminders of death. The bodies of the dead cremated. Here we come across a mass grave. Each dirt mound, another tsunami victim. There are hundreds here alone.

(on camera): These are not just mass graves. They're reminders of the living because everyone of the hundreds of people who are buried here lived and then died so suddenly in that tsunami. And they've all left someone behind to deal with the grief.

(voice-over): Tamil political leaders say first two decades of civil war now this has shattered these people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): These people were just about to re-establish themselves. And especially the population that was living along the coastline are mostly fishing population. And they have lost almost everything that can be called anything for a livelihood.

GRANT: But life is about the little things. Even here with all lost, kids still play like kids. And men still deal their cards and gamble on site.

Stan Grant, CNN, Molativu (ph) Relief Camp, Northern Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRANT: Now I know that we talk a lot about the relief that's getting here. And so much of it is coming from the Tamil diaspora. A lot of those people living in the United States. They've been concerned that the goods that they're sending or the money they're donating is not actually getting to the ground. Well, it is starting to trickle through.

Yes, it's a complicated process. You are dealing with the rebel group. And they do need to deal very closely with the aid agencies themselves. They want to control what comes in and what goes out.

But it is starting to get through. And just an example, if you wondered what's in an average sort of relief pack, this is a fairly good example of one now. And I'll open it up and have a look inside. You can see there's some clothing here, a sarong. There are some little packets of food. There are some tin goods here, matches, candles. Also, there's some rice as well.

These are the types of things that these people require, the basic food stuffs, the water, the clothing. And just as an added point, there are probably 600,000 to 700,000 people who have now been displaced, left home as a result of that tsunami, stretching right along the north and the east of Sri Lanka, which is in the Tamil rebel held territory -- Tony?

HARRIS: Very good, Stan. Stan Grant reporting for us this morning. Stan, thank you.

U.S. Coast Guard units in California are joining the relief efforts with both supplies and manpower. A C-130 cargo plane left yesterday to pick up food, water, medicine and other supplies in Honolulu. It joins another plan today for the trip to Thailand. Strike teams will be on board to assess the region's needs and establish safe water supplies. The Coast Guard cutter will also accompany the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln carrier group to the area.

KAYE: Sri Lanka is the second hardest hit nation in the region with a death toll second only to Indonesia. Earlier today, the death toll in Sri Lanka surged yet again. It now exceeds 46,000. More than 5,000 people still missing.

In the aftermath of the devastation in Sri Lanka, people are in desperate need of food, water, and other basic necessities. So let's talk about the recovery efforts there.

Joining us is a veteran relief worker and a consultant to the United Nations and World Bank. Arul Pulendran is now with the Sathya Sai Organization and is looking not only at the immediate needs of the region, but also the rebuilding need to assure its future recovery.

He joins us by telephone from Colombo, Sri Lanka. Good morning, Mr. Pulendran. I want to ask you. It was one week ago today the tsunami struck southern Asia. What is the situation there in Sri Lanka this morning?

ARUL PULENDRAN, SATHYA SAI: That's right. Thank you very much. Well, things are not as good as they could be. They could be definitely infinitely better. But still, to be hopeful.

There is a lot of strife. There is a lot of people without shelter. People are virtually living under trees. And there is the monsoon that have set in. And people are living in overcrowded churches, temples, and even under trees.

And with the monsoon, people are virtually in their wet clothes. They have been wearing the same clothes that they wore on day one. Water is an acute problem. Pollution -- water has got pollute -- water in all the wells and stacked with bodies. And there is the intrusion of sea water. Absolutely critical -- water situation, drinking water.

KAYE: So do you know...

PULENDRAN: Food is another serious problem. Yes?

KAYE: Is it the aid that isn't there? Or is it trouble with getting the aid, whether it's due to washed out roads, or landing strips that might be under water? Is the aid there and just can't get to the people?

PULENDRAN: Yes, aid is coming in, but not as fast as it could be. And it's also not reaching the affected people. Sometimes aid gets diverted to other places.

KAYE: I know that...

PULENDRAN: It's a serious problem.

KAYE: You've taken part in humanitarian efforts around the world. How would you say that this crisis measures up to those?

PULENDRAN: This crisis is infinitely greater than any of those I have witnesses earlier. And it is a terrific challenge, I think, to not only to us Sri Lankans, but to all -- people all over the world. I think this is the worst disaster in living memory in a lifetime of anybody. Yes?

KAYE: What is -- I'm just curious what your typical day is like there? You're part of this massive relief effort.

PULENDRAN: Right.

KAYE: Who are you talking to? And what is it like just going from -- and how are you getting around there? And what are you seeing?

PULENDRAN: I'm getting around beyond -- you cannot go beyond Colombo, 30 miles beyond Colombo towards Galle, because the road is cut up, broken. Bridges are damaged at least in the south.

In the west, roads in the north and east, there has been intense -- there has been a war raging for the last 20 years. Infrastructure has been damaged. Roads are damaged. Bridges have been blown up. So it's difficult to get about in the eastern province, where there's a lot of relief work to be done. This is a serious problem that hampers aid work.

And another very serious problem is the problem that arises due to land mines, which have been washed out of mine fields. And even here, the warning signs have been displaced. So this frustrates all attempts to reach the affected people.

KAYE: OK. Arul Pulendran...

PULENDRAN: Yes.

KAYE: ...from Sathya Sai in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Thank you for joining us this morning.

The tragedies also transcending religious differences. Both Christian churches and Buddhist temples filled with worshipers today. They prayed for the tsunami's thousands of victims, both living and dead and sought solace from their fates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mothers, fathers that were, you know, I can't even talk about it. It's too sad. Who had lost all of their children, who had lost their whole families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: A plea to help tsunami victims brings Hollywood stars and Bollywood stars together.

KAYE: And New Year's Eve partiers were gambling on this. Now the party's over, but getting out of town might be the real headache. Both stories ahead on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: It's an effort to save the youngest victims of the Asian tsunami. Find out what must be done and how you can help when we talk to the president of Save the Children in the next hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Two men are in jail in suburban Columbus, Ohio, accused of invading a home and forcing an elderly man to withdraw a cache from a bank. Tellers got suspicious and called police, who chased one of the suspects, until he crashed the victim's car. No one was seriously hurt.

In Minot, North Dakota, 36 children have been injured while riding cardboard boxes down a snowy hill, which was clearly marked no sledding. Three of the children are hospitalized in stable condition. The boxes crashed during an all night New Year's Eve party hosted by a Christian youth group.

The temperature hit 50 degrees yesterday in Boston. Not unprecedented, but certainly unusual for New Year's Day. Look at this sight. It's credited with bringing 700 people to the 101st annual Polar Swim organized by the L Street Brownie Swim Club. It was one of several polar plunges around the country on the first day of 2005.

Also getting a New Year's break from the weather, the 116th Annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, the daddy of the ball. The weather had been stormy all week, but the skies cleared just in time for the parade. The floats remained intact. And thousands of spectators remained dry.

Have you had enough college football yet? Of course not. The Orange Bowl is still two days away. We'll have a preview of the really big game just ahead.

KAYE: Time now to take a look at some of the stories we'll be following in the week ahead. Monday, a U.S. delegation has its first full day of touring the devastation in South Asia to assess humanitarian needs from the tsunami disaster.

Secretary of State Colin Powell and Florida Governor Jeb Bush are heading that group. Also Monday, Congress returns to work from its holiday recess. The session is mostly a formality. Lawmakers will then adjourn until formal sessions reopen after the presidential inauguration set for January 20th.

And Wednesday in Houston, Texas, jury selection begins in the trial of a man charged in the country's deadliest human smuggling attempt. Tyrone Williams is accused of abandoning dozens of immigrants inside a sweltering tractor trailer. 19 of them died. Some of the charges Williams is facing carry a possible death penalty.

HARRIS: Well stars of a weekly TV show broadcast overseas organized a four hour New Year's Day telethon in Los Angeles. They appealed for contributions to two relief groups operating in the South Asian disaster area.

Miguel Marquez has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shiraz Hassan and his wife Zerina Ramzan are stars of their own weekly show called "Tinseltown."

SHIRAZ HASSAN, TV SHOW HOST: Basically we have a show that's -- that brings the biggest stars from Hollywood, biggest stars from Bollywood. Also we...

ZERINA RAMZAN, TV SHOW HOST: East Meets West.

HASSAN: East Meets West.

RAMZAN: West Meets East.

HASSAN: Celebrities...

RAMZAN: No scandal, no gossip.

MARQUEZ: Though you may not have heard of them, they say their "Tinseltown" reaches half a billion people in 130 countries every week.

Today, they're putting their talent toward four hours of live television.

HASSAN: We have to donate now.

MARQUEZ: A telethon raising money for tsunami victims.

HASSAN: If I know that we can heal people, some part of the world, that is our focus.

MARQUEZ: The telethon was broadcast to the country's largest Asian population living in and around Los Angeles. On a normal Saturday, KSCI airs news, entertainment and paid programming to an Asian audience. PETER MATHES, CEO, ASIA MEDIA GROUP: We're not a station that normally does this. Shiraz has never done live television. So you know, we're sort of learning as we go here, but everybody's hearts in the right place.

MARQUEZ: It's like the little show that could. Everyone pitching in, hoping to make a difference to those who need it most.

Marg Helgenberger stars in the hit CBS show "CSI." She and her actor husband, Alan Rosenberg, stopped in to make a pitch. She's says the tsunami cut such a deep path of devastation across Asia, volunteering part of her New Year's Day was easy.

MARG HELGENBERGER: Mothers, fathers that were, you know, I can't even talk about it. It's too sad. Who had lost all of their children, who had lost their whole families.

MARQUEZ: The telethon made the pitch for two charities already operating in every country affected -- World Vision and the American Red Cross. More help for tragedy that seems to have no end.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: The still growing tsunami aftermath is creating a dire situation for those in need. If you'd like to help, the organization CARE is accepting donations and can be reached via the Internet or by phone.

The American Red Cross is also sending money for relief through its international response fund. The relief group Oxfam has set up an Asia Earthquake Fund. And Unicef is accepting money through its general emergency fund.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Good morning, D.C. Rob Marciano will tell you what kind of weather to expect in just a minute. What a nice picture there.

But for now, a question in Nevada. Why might skiers, gamblers, and New Year's party goers have in common? Well, they're all trying to escape that mess that you're looking at right there. Several feed of snow in Reno is complicating post-holiday travel plans for so many. It is the heaviest snowfall in Reno in nearly 15 years. And worse, the Sierra Nevada region is expected to get as much as 18 more inches of snow today.

HARRIS: Not -- I guess they kind of -- they get that a little bit, right? A little bit of snow out there, it's not a -- OK, all right.

(WEATHER REPORT) HARRIS: Are you ready for more football? Well, just ahead, we're taking you beyond the game for a preview of the National College Championship Game.

KAYE: And later, stay close. We go live to Phuket, Thailand, and our own Aneesh Raman.

Good morning, Aneesh.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Coming up, I'll speak with the Thai prime minister about Secretary of State Colin Powell's impending visit to the region.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Nine members of this man's family swept away in Sri Lanka, just one of the tragic stories from the tsunami disaster.

Welcome back and good morning. I'm Randi Kaye in for Betty Nguyen.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. That story in a minute.

First, a look at what's new this morning. Secretary of State Colin Powell heads later today to South Asia to view the devastation firsthand and assess needs. Powell is leading a U.S. delegation, along with President Bush's brother, Jeb Bush, as the governor of Florida coordinated relief efforts after a string of hurricanes in his state.

In Iraq north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber has struck again this time. The bomber was actually driving the bus, carrying Iraqi national guardsmen. The explosion outside a coalition base near Balad killed 18 soldiers and a civilian Iraqi woman.

In Afghanistan, a U.S. soldier and a former Afghan militia leader were killed earlier today when a search erupted into gunfire. The U.S. military says U.S. troops were searching a compound in western Afghanistan when the Americans came under attack.

California's bracing for more severe weather, after a week long series of storms pounded the state from one end to the other. The latest system could bring up to three feet of snow to the higher elevations of the sierras.

KAYE: The overall death toll from the earthquake and tsunamis is rising more slowly than it was last week. 138,000 reported dead Saturday, 141,000 now. The toll will continue to climb, though, because thousands of people are still listed as missing.

U.S. Navy Seahawk helicopters from the aircraft carrier Abe Lincoln are dropping supplies to stricken Indonesian villages today. But they're no longer alone in that relief effort. Choppers and planes from Australia, Singapore, and from the Indonesian capitol of Jakarta are also bringing in supplies. And U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is one of the high level delegates who will meet Thursday in Jakarta. Donor nations will work on coordinating relief efforts. So far, $2 billion has been pledged to help.

HARRIS: A week after the tsunamis swept away thousands of people along Thailand's coastline, survivors prayed for the dead today. Dozens of mourners gathered at a Catholic church in Phuket. Some spoke of putting the tragedy behind them.

CNN's Aneesh Raman is following this story from Phuket. And he joins us now with more -- Aneesh?

RAMAN: Tony, good morning to you. That really is the scene here on Phuket Island, attempting to really try and put this tragedy behind them. They've had some semblance of buildings that remain standing. They have everything they think they need to try and move forward.

Now earlier today, we caught up with the Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He told me that things were going very well in terms of the relief effort. They had everything they needed.

I also asked him of Secretary Powell's impending visit here to Thailand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THAKSIN SHINAWATRA, THAI PRIME MINISTER: Thailand is not really expect anything from international, except the understanding and the cooperation.

But now we received more than we expect. That is a lot of expert and equipments that come in to help us. That's all what we need. We don't need any financial assistance.

I think what we think that the expertise that they have, because we have no experience like this before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAMAN: Now Tony, he said the biggest hurdle they were facing right now are those corpses, now some seven days under rubble. Contamination still a major fear. And with thousands of people missing and many of them presumed dead, it is likely there will be a large number of bodies found as the rubble cleared from those outlying areas -- Tony?

HARRIS: Aneesh, what are the latest numbers on the missing and dead foreigners in Thailand and Phuket?

RAMAN: Right now, it stands at about 6,500. We know that of that, a good number of foreign tourists. We even know that about 3500 are specifically Swedish tourists. It's a big time for them to come. Some 15,000 come here between Christmas and New Year's.

We asked the Thai prime minister about those numbers. He told us that he thought it perhaps might even go down, given that a large part of that could be people that are unaccounted for, that are alive and well, just not known to the government.

Also, duplicate reporting. People reporting let's say their sister missing at multiple locations. That, in some cases, gets counted as four people, rather than one.

At the same time, this is a man who earlier in the week said that he thought the death toll here, which now stands at about 5,000, could rise to as high as 8,000. Other reports suggesting it could double. That would all be because of the missing, who would in fact they presume, be found dead -- Tony?

HARRIS: Just amazing numbers. Aneesh Raman on Phuket Island in Thailand. Aneesh, thank you.

KAYE: An Ohio man from Sri Lanka is struggling to cope with what seems like an incomprehensible loss. Nine of his relatives, including his mother, father, and brothers were killed with the tsunami crashed ashore in Sri Lanka.

Shelly Crenshaw of our affiliate station WBNS in Columbus has that report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHELLY CRENSHAW, WBNS NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tuyan Samsudeen looks at home movies taken at his parent's Sri Lankan home last year. Today his home and village of Hemantota (ph) now washed away by a killer tidal wave, taking nine of his family members along with it.

TUYAN SAMSUDEEN, LOST FAMILY IN TSUNAMI: Really, it's very hard for me to bear this, what happened.

CRENSHAW: Losing his mom...

SAMSUDEEN: She passed away.

CRENSHAW: ...dad, three brothers, a niece, two nephews, and a sister-in-law. Lives cut short because of the tsunami.

SAMSUDEEN: I felt like I'm alone because there is nobody once I go home. Not only my family, my friends, my relatives.

CRENSHAW: His wife Razana also struggles with losing some of her family. But her parents live with them in Hilliard. She says this holiday season has been tough to bear.

RAZANA SAMSUDEEN, WIFE: So many of them lost, their parents, and the parents lost their children. It's hard.

CRENSHAW: The family stays strong because of prayer and support and keeping on eye on little Shaquil.

T. SAMSUDEEN: Right now, I'm little bit all right but -- because I have a baby. At least I'm trying to keep -- to be with him all the time.

CRENSHAW: Tuyan says he will need that strength when he flies home to put family members in their final resting place.

T. SAMSUDEEN: Find out the real places of my parents, my brothers, then pray for them. Then my friends.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: The death toll for Sri Lanka has risen to more than 46,000 people.

HARRIS: A week later. Boy.

It is the largest National Guard deployment Texas has seen since the second World War. Details next on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

KAYE: And we are taking your e-mails this morning. Tell us what, in your opinion, is the biggest challenge facing the U.S. in 2005? We are at wam@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: In Waco, Texas, marching orders for some 3,000 members of a Texas National Guard, who will be heading for Iraq. That's the most guardsmen deployed from the state since World War II. They got a rousing send off yesterday from about 25,000 family and friends gathered at Baylor University Stadium. Each soldier was given a phone card with more than two hours of free calls.

KAYE: Those fresh recruits are sure to face some tough challenges in Iraq. Their medal will be tested under circumstances they can only imagine. Even mundane routines might unexpectedly turn into moments of singular heroism.

Here's CNN's Jeff Koinange with one such story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sergeant Eric Wroblewski is proud to be a member of the U.S. Army's 705th EOD, a unit responsible for defusing bombs and mines.

On Tuesday, December 21st, he had joined friends for lunch in the mess hall at Camp Morez in Mosul.

SGT. ERIC WROBLEWSKI, U.S. ARMY: I got up to go get some pizza. And on my way back is when the explosion occurred. The explosion knocked me to the ground. I got up, found my glasses as soon as possible. There were about two feet behind me and...

KOINANGE: Instinct took over.

WROBLEWSKI: I ran around, grabbing aprons from some of the workers, taking their aprons off them because they didn't need them. We were using anything we could. I don't have my -- I already took my video top off by then. Anything we could use to just stop the bleeding.

KOINANGE: The mess hall, he says, was filled with pandemonium. In this photograph taken by a journalist visiting the base, Wroblewski rushes to the aid of his fallen colleagues.

WROBLEWSKI: Specialist Hewitt was opposite side of the table from me, right across from me. And we sat there, I mean, that was our normal sitting spot. We always sat in the same area. That way, if somebody came late, they would know where to find us. And they didn't have to sit alone.

I went in one more time to look for Specialist Hewitt. I couldn't find him. And he was dead when he arrived at the hospital.

KOINANGE: Every day, he struggles with vivid memories of those moments.

WROBLEWSKI: Just to see that hole just reminds me of the fire ball. I mean, the fire ball was so big. I was very lucky. If I didn't get up to get pizza, I could either be with Specialist Hewitt right now or recovering next to Sergeant Vaud (ph).

This right here is Specialist Hewitt.

KOINANGE: Wroblewski is struggling to come to terms with the loss of his best buddy.

WROBLEWSKI: Specialist Hewitt was a really good soldier. He was a really good friend. I know it's hard, but I hope they're proud of what he was doing, because he was really proud of what he was doing and to be here.

The last thing Specialist said to me, we were talking about my wife actually. And he said your wife made some really good pancakes. And that's when I told him I was going to get more pizza. That was the last thing he said to me.

KOINANGE: Jeff Koinange, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And we bring you heroes stories every week on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

HARRIS: Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose, Bowl, college football fan? Well, if you're into the bowl mania, here's the man with all the answers. Really? He's the guy with the...

KAYE: That's what they tell us.

HARRIS: Oh, man, our bowl guru, Rick Horrow, will take us beyond the game next on CNN SUNDAY. Hey, Rick, Happy New Year.

RICK HORROW, AUTHOR, "WHEN THE GAME IS ON THE LINE": Yes, Happy New Year. You're going to get yours, man.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Checking our top stories, here are the new developments on the killer tsunamis. The death toll has climbed to more than 141,000 throughout the stricken areas of South Asia. Rescuers in Indonesia say they'll soon call off their search for survivors.

Secretary of State Colin Powell leaves today on the U.S. mission to the region. He'll review the damage and assess what additional aid can be provided by the U.S.

And President Bush calls for the nation's flags to be flown at half staff beginning tomorrow. It is part of a five day tribute to the quake and tsunami victims.

And don't forget our e-mail question this morning. We are asking you what's the biggest challenge facing America in 2005? Tell us what you think. We are at wam@cnn.com. And we'll be reading your replies throughout the morning.

HARRIS: OK, we are two days away from the granddaddy of them all, the Fedex Orange Bowl. But there's a chance four unbeaten teams will remain at the end of the championship game? How did that happen?

Time to go beyond the game with the author of "When the Game is on the Line." Sports analyst Rick Horrow joins us from West Palm Beach, Florida. Are you -- do you know where you are, your time zones, what all this traveling you've been doing?

HORROW: Back in the own bed for the first time in four days. Here's the relevant thing.

HARRIS: Yes.

HORROW: Six bowl games, six cities...

HARRIS: Oh, my.

HORROW: ...400,000 attendance, 382 points, a quarter of a billion dollars of economic impact.

HARRIS: Yes.

HORROW: And the big number is eight, which is the pounds I gained from eating press box food.

HARRIS: That's some nasty stuff. OK, so here's the schedule. We had two games yesterday in this whole BCS thing, right?

HORROW: Yes.

HARRIS: We've got another game tomorrow, right?

HORROW: Tomorrow. And then the biggie Tuesday night in Miami.

HARRIS: OK. Will we know by the end of the game on Tuesday who the national champ is? HORROW: It is a definite maybe. And the reason we say that is because Utah won last night in the Fiesta Bowl Tostito. Auburn may win tomorrow night. So we'll have at least two undefeated teams and maybe even three.

We thought about that since the beginning of football time.

HARRIS: Yes.

HORROW: You know, Tony, there have been 11 disputed split national champions in the last 50 years. We've had the bowl coalition, the bowl championship series, all because we like a winner.

And the problem is we really don't come to grips with the fact that average 600 games this year, we're going to have at least two teams that say we were undefeated. Why not us?

HARRIS: OK, so you know, they're killing the sport with this thing. And I know there's a lot of money to be made. And that's part of the reason why we're in the mess that we're in right now. But if you're a diehard football fan, you want that clear definitive champ at the end of the season. So I want you to make the affirmative case for keeping the BCS. Can you do that?

HORROW: Yes, I can. Three arguments -- money, money, and more money.

HARRIS: OK.

HORROW: ABC spent more $900 million over six years. Fox has another $300 million. So the system is locked in until 2014.

Corporations love it. Tostitos sponsored the Fiesta Bowl last night. They spent $30 million over five years. The National Championship Game for them gets them $80 million of exposure.

HARRIS: Wow.

HORROW: And the colleges like it, because they get $600 million of payment. And 95 percent goes to the have teams, meaning the big conferences.

Utah broke through last night. They get a $17 million payout. But for the most part, the system is locked in. There will be minor tweaking. Water cooler conversation, but it ain't going to change that much.

HARRIS: Well, are you with me though that we do have this need, this sense of wanting to have one definitive champ? And when you have a system that factors so many things in here, that it kind of waters down the final result? Are you with me on that?

HORROW: Yes, waters down is probably a good answer, because water cooler conversation on this stuff is natural.

There's 74 million of us football fans who are avid and watch TV. And we love talking about who wins. But it's a $5 billion business.

HARRIS: Yes.

HORROW: And we also like to talk about who came in second and who could have won.

You know, in Division II, the other leagues in college football, they have a playoff. And they play 15 games. So the argument about having too many games is bogus.

The real argument is that the colleges want to keep the money they have and not take the risk of even making more money. And as long as we have that controversy, I would say it's pretty good for college football only because we've tried six times. We're going to tweak it again. And it's not going to do anything better to have that definitive champion. So we're just going to have to suck it up and cross that (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

HARRIS: OK, you've made the affirmative case. The Associated Press wants its poll factored out of the whole BCS mess because it's just a mess. Make the case for why the BCS should go?

HORROW: Well, it's an economic leverage case like everything else in business. The bottom line is there's a lot of musical chairs around conferences. Notre Dame just signed a $9 million deal with NBC. And they're not worthy of that top spot unless they get better very quickly. And even the House Judiciary Committee, by the way Tony, weighed in last year probably because California legislators were upset because SC got shut out of the game.

But the bottom line is the more hearings, the more tweaking, advertisers are spending $100 billion in advertising of all kinds over the next year. So they're going to try to figure out how to have that definitive game.

There will be a fifth BCS game that's in the works.

HARRIS: I see.

HORROW: Will it be a fifth game after the first four for the national championship? Or will it be another qualifier? We're going to see.

But there is some change in the offing. The question is how much. And as long as we keep talking about it, like I said, it's probably good for college football.

I said at the beginning of December, we were going to talk about this everyday.

HARRIS: You did.

HORROW: ...until Tuesday, the 4th. And you know what? I love saying this. I was right.

HARRIS: Yes. And you know what? You're right about this, too. It all seems to come down to the dollar. There he is, Rick Horrow, taking you beyond the game.

Rick, good to see you. See you next week.

HORROW: Talk to you next week, man.

HARRIS: OK.

KAYE: Thanks, Tony. See you got your Bowl preview? Now we have your weather preview for you for your Sunday weather. Good morning again, Rob.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Let us get to our e-mail question of the morning. What's the biggest challenge facing America in 2005? And we want to thank you for your responses so far this morning.

KAYE: And here is one of those responses, "coming to a political consensus on finding a workable Social Security solution, and the serious tax reform that will be required in the process." That's from Bryan.

HARRIS: And this from Dave. "If you combine red and blue you get purple. Therefore our biggest challenge as a nation is to quit thinking about red states and blue states and all strive to become purple states so that we can be one nation again."

And we want to thank you for your e-mails so far, and encourage you to send more along. Wam@cnn.com is our address. And the question, what's the biggest challenge facing America in 2005?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: From the CNN Center this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is January 2nd, 8 a.m. at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta, 5 a.m. on the West Coast. Good morning everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

KAYE: And I'm Randi Kaye in for Betty Nguyen. Thanks for being with us.

HARRIS: And now in the news. Secretary of State Colin Powell is leading a U.S. delegation to the areas hardest hit a week ago by the tsunamis. The president's brother, Florida governor, Jeb Bush is also part of the team.

They'll get a first hand look at what will be the world's largest disaster relief mission in decades. Powell appears on CNN's "LATE EDITION" at noon eastern time to mark the tragic loss of life in South Asia.

American flags at U.S. government facilities will be lowered to half staff. President Bush's order issued through his weekly radio address goes into effect tomorrow and last through Friday.

In Iraq at least 18 Iraqi soldiers were killed when a suicide attacker rammed their bus with a car bomb rigged to it. It happened this morning outside a coalition bass near Balad north of Baghdad. An Iraqi woman was also killed. Six other Iraqi troops were wounded.

KAYE: Here's a look now -- a quick look at some other stories coming up this hour. The world rushes desperately needed aid to tsunami survivors. It's a massive relief effort. But is it just a drop in an ocean of need? We'll cover tsunami aid throughout the hour.

Also ahead life saving relief for children affected by the killer tsunamis. Save the Children talks about its response to the catastrophe in south Asia.

And Faces of Faith the spotlight is on the late Reggie White, a player and a preacher. A force to be reckoned on the football field and off.

HARRIS: Top story this hour, an unbelievable toll of victims and an unprecedented amount of aid. CNN is keeping track of all of the latest developments one week after the tsunami disaster.

Here's the latest. The death toll now stands at over 141,000. And that toll is likely to keep climbing with thousands of people still listed as missing.

Meanwhile a global sense of grief has caused a world of giving. The United Nations says $2 billion in aid has been pledged so far. The region will also get some high level visitors. Secretary of State Colin Powell. In Florida Governor Jeb Bush will lead a delegation there today. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan will also pay a visit.

KAYE: Among all the nations so hard hit by the disaster, Indonesia perhaps received the worst devastation. The number of dead there is closing in on 80,000. Our Mike Chinoy is in that country and joins us for the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is what a town looks like when it has literally been wiped off the face of the earth. I'm walking through a place called I'm walking through a place called Loknai (ph).

Until a week ago it was a pleasant community of about 3,000 people. It was people who liked to live by the sea, which is just a few hundred meters a way. But then the tsunami came in and wiped out everything in its path. All you can see in any direction as far as you look is devastation.

One of the things that was destroyed was the main bridge linking the provincial capital of Banda Aceh with the western coast, the area that was worst hit by the tsunami. As a result, land transportation to these badly affected areas has been made impossible. Just on the other side was an Indonesian army base. There were about 270 Indonesian soldiers there with their families, their wives and children. Twelve of them survived. That's what we are told.

Further down the coast, the devastation is even greater . And we have been told about a town called Chilon (ph) that was also completely obliterated. However, a small group of survivors, members of the Indonesian army garrison, did manage to weather the disaster by running into the hills and mountains.

When they returned to Chilon they found this boat, which had been out at sea during the storm. They managed to repair a radio and alert the Indonesian military here And on Sunday they left Chilon and took a trip lasting about eight hours until they arrived here.

Many of them were badly injured with cuts, bruises, infections, all kinds of physical damage and it was very clear you could see as well a lot of emotional trauma. They said nothing is left of Chilon. They were met by Indonesian soldiers here and taken to refugee camps to be patched up and cared for.

There's a kind of eerie wind blowing all along this coastal area where we've been most of the day. And sometimes when the wind really picks up you can still smell the stench of decaying bodies in the air.

Mike Chinoy, CNN, Loknai, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: With so many in need in the wake of the disaster, the plight of children is getting special attention. In just a few minutes Charles MacCormack of the group Save the Children joins us for an update on the efforts to save the youngest survivors.

HARRIS: For now here are the latest developments on the relief efforts. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is expected to tour the devastation in Asia on Thursday. Today an emergency airlift is underway by the Untied Nations refugee agency to get hundreds of tons of supplies into Indonesia.

The urgently needed aid will go to the hardest hit northern province of Aceh and should cover about 100,000 people.

Meantime U.S. Navy helicopters are dropping supplies to stricken Indonesian villages today. But they are no longer alone in the relief effort. Choppers and planes from Australia, Singapore and from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta are also bringing supplies.

And in some parts of the devastated regions relief workers are using some heavy duty help. Take a look at this. They're using elephants to clear away debris in Indonesia and southern Thailand.

KAYE: Within the larger world of the unbelievable amount of devastation brought on by the disaster there are millions of smaller tales about those affected. The lost brother, the surviving sister and certainly the children. Our Jeanne Meserve brings us one story of a man and his mission still struggling to survive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIYANA SANDERS: We wish you and your family many prayers throughout this tragedy.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mail has brought Diyana Sanders condolences and checks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a check for $100, for $800, $500, $230.

MESERVE: In one day, a total of $7,400 to rebuild the orphanage Diyana's brother Daylan Sanders established on a sliver of seaside in Sri Lanka in 1994.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's just 10 years old and she's been with us just a couple of months.

MESERVE: Daylan left a comfortable life in the U.S., selling his home to finance the building of the orphanage, and help the children in his native country.

SAMALAN SANDERS, DAYLAN'S MOTHER: Since he was a little boy, he was always a very caring person. He would collect money in a little purse and give it away to beggars.

MESERVE: Twenty-eight children found a home at the orphanage until last Sunday.

DAYLAN SANDERS, FOUNDER, DIRECTOR SAMARITAN CHILDREN'S HOME: There are no words in human speech to describe what we saw. It was a 30-foot wall of sea just bearing down on us like an angry monster.

MESERVE: Daylan crammed the orphans and his family into one small boat, which uncharacteristically started on the first try.

DIYANA SANDERS: The boat capacity was only 15 people. There were like 32, 33 people crammed in there, trying to get across the lagoon to the city, and there were all dead bodies in this lagoon, and there were people holding on to rafters and branches and screaming to them and asking them to help them.

MESERVE: Daylan and the children survived. The orphanage did not.

KANYA SANDERS, DAYLAN'S SISTER: It's been incomprehensible and just, you know, mind-blowing. But we are so, so thankful and grateful to God that they were saved so miraculously.

MESERVE: Daylan's family and friends in Maryland immediately set about raising the estimated $400,000 it will take to rebuild the orphanage. Two newspaper stories have helped generate a torrent of calls... UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Samaritan Home Relief, how can I help you?

MESERVE: ...and contributions.

DIYANA SANDERS: One thousand five hundred. Amazing. My sympathy to you and to your fellow countrymen from Sri Lanka. I hope this gift will help towards building the orphanage.

MESERVE: An orphanage that Sri Lanka needs now more than ever before.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: For more now on the plight of the children across all of the affected regions we are joined by Charles MacCormack. He is president of the group Save the Children and he joins us this morning from New York.

Good morning Mr. MacCormack. Good to have you with us.

CHARLES MACCORMACK, PRESIDENT, SAVE THE CHILDREN: Good morning. Thank you.

KAYE: There are so many children, so much need, so many problems to tend to there. How critical is the need right now and where is it?

MACCORMACK: Well lives are on the line as we speak because of the threat of disease malaria, typhus, typhoid. So it's very crucial that clean water food and medicine be provided immediately.

KAYE: And what is it that Save the Children does provide?

MACCORMACK: We are providing all the necessities of life shelter, food, clean water, medicine, protection and reuniting children with their families throughout the region.

KAYE: With communications so difficult there though and so many areas so hard to get to how do you assess where to go first?

MACCORMACK: Well fortunately the communications have really built up and we have satellite telephones and we have been in Aceh for 30 years so we have experienced staff and partners throughout the province. And they have been communicating throughout the week.

So fortunately our communications with Indonesia and Sri Lanka are quite good now.

KAYE: You see so many of the faces of the children in the videos that we've been seeing over the last week. What is it that your workers there on the ground can say to these kids to help them understand what has happened?

I know that you're not there obviously to counsel them, but what can you offer in terms of that? MACCORMACK: Well fortunately we do have trained Indonesian counselors available to meet with these children. But it's very important to create a sense of normalcy right away. So we have established large tents where children can gather.

There are activities for then in Sri Lanka and there will be within a day or two in Indonesia, so they could have some sense that life has returned to normal.

KAYE: Is it your understanding that a lot of these kids do understand what has happened there?

MACCORMACK: They certainly understand that their lives have been disrupted, that in many cases their families are lost. But they are always very resilient. And so long as we can reunite them with their families, provide them with stability and a sense of normal life our experience shows that they will revive and flourish again in the future.

KAYE: Now I know that Save the Children is not directly involved with adoptions, but there is a program called Family Reunification. What takes place there?

MACCORMACK: It's very important to reconnect children who have lost their immediate parents with aunts and uncles and grandparents and members of their extended family so the sense of returning to normal can be recreated for them.

KAYE: All right. Plenty of work ahead for Save the children. Charles MacCormack, president and CEO thanks so much for being with us on this Sunday morning.

MACCORMACK: Thank you very much.

HARRIS: Millions of people are opening their hearts and their wallets to help the victims of this tragedy. If you'd like to help the organization CARE is accepting donations and can be reached via the Internet or phone.

And UNICEF is accepting money through its general emergency fund.

The World Health Organization says there could be a second chapter to this tragedy. It's easily conceivable that another 50,000 people could die from diseases and other causes stemming from the disaster. In fact, crisis chief David Nabarro says as many as five million people are not able to access what they need for living.

He was a player and a preacher whose death came unexpectedly. Ahead in our Faces of Faith segment, remembering Reggie White as a member of God's team.

KAYE: And we want to hear from you on our e-mail question of the day. What is the biggest challenge facing America in 2005? Send your comments to wam@cnn.com and we'll be sure to read some of them during the show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Checking our top stories right now. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Florida Governor Jeb Bush will leave today on a fact finding trip to areas ravaged by last Sunday's tsunamis. Powell will talk about that mission today at noon on CNN's "LATE EDITION" with Wolf Blitzer.

Rain is complicating the emergency relief efforts in south Asia. Flash floods dislodged about 2,000 tsunami victims at refugee camps in Sri Lanka.

And in Balad north of Baghdad 18 Iraqi soldiers aboard a bus were killed early today by a suicide bomber. The attacker rammed a car rigged as a bomb into the bus near a military base. An Iraqi woman was also killed. Six Iraqi soldiers were wounded.

HARRIS: And let's get you back to Rob Marciano for another check of the nation's weather this Sunday morning.

Good morning, Rob.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: He could run with the best of them on the field and he worked to inspire people off of it. Straight ahead in our Faces of Faith remember Reggie White as a member of God's team.

KAYE: And at the bottom of the hour a very special "HOUSE CALL" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta reporting from Sri Lanka, coping with disaster in the aftermath of the tsunami.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: As NFL Sunday gets underway today fans around the country will no doubt be thinking of one of the game's greatest players. Reggie White the former defensive lineman died last Sunday at the age of 43.

CNN's Steve Overmyer takes a look at White's impact both on and off the field.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE OVERMYER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You'd be hard pressed to find a competitor that put more fear in a quarterback than Reggie White. The 13 time pro bowler was perhaps the best defensive lineman ever, left he game as the NFL's all time sacks leader.

Sunday White passed away of unknown causes at the youthful age of 43.

MIKE HOLMGREN, COACHED WHITE IN GREEN BAY: He was a very special football player. Everyone knows that. Hall of Fame great player. But he was really a fine human being. I mean laughing, fun all the time, just a real pleasure. He was a wonderful man. OVERMYER: The fact he won two defensive MVP awards and helped the Green Bay Packers win Super Bowl XXXI left little doubt his intensity on the field. But his positive spirit and light hearted nature left an indelible mark on those who knew the man outside the lines.

JEFF FISHER, FMR. EAGLES DEFENSE COACH: I f it wasn't Elvis he was impersonating somebody in the locker room. It seemed like once a week he would walk into -- I'd walk into the defensive meeting and the meeting had already started and Reggie was running it.

OVERMYER: White was an ordained Christian minister earning him the nickname the minister of defense. As much of his life revolved around church and football, maybe it's no coincidence he passed on a Sunday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was a great player obviously, great man, great fried. We'll miss him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: The rough and tumble gridiron might be an unlikely place to find someone so devout in his religious convictions. So how did Reggie White approach his role as player and preacher?

Joining us now from Green Bay, Wisconsin, White's pastor Arni Jacobson. Pastor Jacobson, good to talk to you.

PASTOR ARNI JACOBSON: It's great to talk to you.

HARRIS: Maybe you could give us a sense of in general terms an answer to that question. How did Reggie White approach his work as a football player and his role as a pastor.

JACOBSON: I think you might want to reverse those roles. I think he saw himself first as a Christian and a man who loved God and really shared his faith. That was his number one. I always saw Reggie as someone who played football second and shared Christ first.

HARRIS: You know, he was such a menace on the football field and yet he is described by so many people as being calm, gentle, a giving and caring man away from it. Help us understand these two views of Reggie White.

JACOBSON: Well I think first of all he was probably the most loving and caring father that you'd ever want to see. His family was number one. And his celebrity status never ever got in the way of his love and concern for his family.

And then when he would speak at various places, and he spoke at our church a number of times because while he was here in Green Bay he attended our church with Sarah and the children., He would speak at our youth group. We have a youth group called 180 and there's hundreds of kids that attend there. He would just spend time with them.

He wouldn't rush out. It wasn't like the celebrity who came in and just did their deal and ran out the back door. He loved everybody. He just was very fiercely competitive when it came tot he football field. But very loving and caring, very strong convictions when it came to sharing his faith in a religious service, in the locker room, in the airport or wherever he was. It was just part of him.

HARRIS: Pastor let me have you address this. There was a moment in time, it seems to me, where Reggie White was set in a position to take on a national leadership role and then there were those comments before the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1998 where he made some comments that folks considered insensitive, talking about homosexuals, talking about blacks, talking about Mexicans.

How should we factor in those kind of comments that many felt were stereotypes? How should we factor that into the total picture of the man?

JACOBSON: It's hard to comment on that because a lot of those things were sound bytes coming out of that session at the sate assembly there. I just know that Reggie had a real heart for people. He took the word of God literally. So whatever it said he shared it.

I guess sometimes when you do that you're misunderstood or people will take and spin something off and try to get a different meaning on it. But I don't think that Reggie and who he was in the Lord and his (UNINTELLIGIBLE) can be judged by that one session there in Madison.

HARRIS: OK. Pastor Jacobson thanks for taking the time to talk to us this morning, as you prepare for Sunday worship service. We appreciate it. Thank you.

JACOBSON: Bye-bye.

HARRIS: Now we want to get to our e-mail question of the morning.

KAYE: And that question is, what is the biggest challenge facing America in 2005? And we've gotten a bunch of e-mails. We want to share one right now from Andy in Pennsylvania. And Andy writes, "The biggest challenge is obviously balancing security with civil rights while trying to encourage solid economical growth at the same time."

So keep those e-mails coming in. There's the question again for you. What's the biggest challenge facing America in 2005?

HARRIS: We'll take a break, but on the other side of that break "HOUSE CALL." A very special "HOUSE CALL" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. We'll see you back at the top of the hour.

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