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CNN Sunday Morning

Continued Coverage of Tsunami; Interview with Vishnu Sneller

Aired January 02, 2005 - 09:00 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: And, good morning everyone. It is January 2. This is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm Tony Harris.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: It is 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 6:00 a.m. out West. Good morning, I'm Randi Kaye in for Betty Nguyen. Thanks for starting your Sunday with us.

Secretary of State Colin Powell leaves today for South Asia, along with the president's brother. Powell and Jeb Bush will assess the tsunami disaster and determine Washington's role in providing relief. As Florida's governor, Jeb Bush has vast experience in dealing with natural disasters.

President Bush is to return to the White House today after spending the holidays at his ranch in Texas. It has been a working vacation in many ways. Mr. Bush has spent much of his time mobilizing Washington's response to the tsunami disaster.

A suicide car bomber has launched the latest pre-election attack in Iraq. He rammed his vehicle into a bus carrying Iraqi national guardsmen north of Baghdad. Eighteen soldiers were killed and one civilian Iraqi woman. Earlier reports had said the bomber was actually driving the bus. Those reports proved untrue.

California is bracing for more severe weather after a weeklong 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.

Keeping you informed, CNN the most trusted name in news.

HARRIS: And here's what's coming up this hour.

We'll go to Banda Aceh to assess the enormous obstacles to the worldwide relief programs for the region. The man leading the U.N.'s food program there will join us.

Then the "Best of the Web," we will look at how the Internet is becoming a life line to the region. Our "Best of the Web" segment looks at online giving.

And, in today's "Soldier Story," the courage and the cost of war, we'll talk to the author of "Purple Hearts" back from Iraq.

KAYE: If you're just joining us this morning our top story is the latest developments in the tsunami disaster. The overall death toll continues to rise, although not nearly as quickly as before. The estimated death toll is now 141,000, up 3,000 from just 24 hours ago. Many thousands are still missing though.

Emergency aid has begun reaching some of the hardest hit villages. Helicopters and planes from the U.S. Navy, Australia, Singapore and from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta are all involved in bringing in badly needed supplies.

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

HARRIS: Now, a picture in contrast, safe but changed forever, a man stares into the calm sea in Phuket, Thailand today. Just a week ago these tranquil waters were transformed by an unprecedented force of nature into a scene of death and misery.

Also in Phuket, survivors, thankful to be alive, attend church services to pray for family members who died in the disaster. A similar scenario plays out in Sri Lanka. Buddhist services are held in Colombo to secure blessings for those killed seven days earlier.

For an update now on the latest from the disaster zone, CNN's Mike Chinoy joins us by phone with the latest, hello Mike.

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (by telephone): Hello.

Well, I went out and spent most of Sunday here in the west of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital in the direction of the worst hit areas. We've seen pictures from the air.

I was on a helicopter with the U.S. Navy yesterday and on the ground it's even more terrifying, horrifying, whole towns just literally leveled, nothing but the foundations of buildings. These are communities right on the shore who were just completely annihilated by the tsunami.

I went as far as where the main bridge that leads to the west coast normally would be except that the tsunami shattered the bridge and that's making ground transport to get aid to those most in need extremely difficult. There was just a kind of makeshift ferry, a few small boats going back and forth.

But there was a steady stream of helicopters flying overhead, American, Australian bringing food and medicine and water to those areas that are completely cut off.

Nonetheless, aid workers here are expressing concern about a number of issues because this province, Aceh, has been involved in a very bloody civil war between separatist rebels and the Indonesian military.

Many international organizations have not been able in the past to operate in the province and, therefore, just the sheer logistical concerns like where do you put people when they come, how do you move around, what kind of transport do you have, how to communicate, all of that is very, very problematic. And so that is meaning that even though supplies of aid are beginning to come in, the longer term process of getting a real relief effort underway is still very, very uncertain very, very difficult.

HARRIS: Mike, just a couple of questions if we have time. When did you get on scene?

CHINOY: I first got here about 48 hours after the tsunami, first thing on Tuesday.

HARRIS: OK. I guess my thought is describe from your point of view what it's been like the first few days after to where we are today, a full week later.

CHINOY: Yes. Well, when we got here basically there were almost no other reporters here and the place was still utterly shell shocked. There were enormous mass graves. I saw one near the airport with 1,000 people that they were bulldozing bodies into the ground.

There was no relief presence to speak of. People were absolutely without food and medicine and drinking water. People were sleeping out on the streets. There were bodies literally littering many, many streets, even just especially right in the sort of downtown area. You'd drive down the street and you'd find 50 corpses putrefying in the tropical sun.

Since then, slowly but steadily, first the Indonesian armed forces became more visible on the street. Secondly, we did have an influx of aid workers. We've got most of the main organizations, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, the Red Cross, a number of organizations from Southeast Asia.

Now, we've got these big military relief operations underway, so there's no question that people are now coming to the rescue and also the locals themselves have begun to organize themselves.

For example, I was talking earlier today with a group of volunteers who had come into Aceh to try and retrieve and bury corpses and they were led by a guy whose normal job is an IT engineer.

HARRIS: Yes.

CHINOY: But it's still a daunting task. This group had pulled about 700 bodies from the rubble in the past five days and they told me at this rate it's going to take four months just to clean up the bodies.

HARRIS: My goodness, OK, Mike Chinoy reporting for us, Mike we appreciate it. Thank you.

An eerie irony has emerged from the tsunami disaster. Amid scenes of unimaginable devastation and death, survivors with only minor injuries, which is not to say they are not deeply hurt, their wounds are hard to see and may take a long time to heal.

Here's CNN's Senior Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Sri Lanka.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a coastal southern Sri Lankan town these gentle waves don't give any indication of the devastation they could wreak.

When the tsunami came, it not only swept swimmers and boats out to deep sea but half a kilometer inland it swept a train right off its tracks, throwing the cars around as if they were toys.

Chamdrika Gunaseka, a school teacher and her daughter were returning home that day and had almost made it when the train suddenly screeched to a halt. They weren't alarmed at first, thinking it was a villager stepping on the tracks to commit suicide, a disturbingly common event in this deprived area of Sri Lanka, but then she looked to her right.

CHAMDRIKA GUNASEKA, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR (through translator): I started shouting "Oh my God" and grabbed my daughter.

GUPTA: She was staring right into the first wave of the tsunami.

GUNASEKA (through translator): The water was rising incredibly fast and very quickly it rose to the train bar. Our heads floated to the top of the train box. It all happened in less than two minutes. I just kept thinking what can I do?

GUPTA: At the time, she thought only of her daughter.

GUNASEKA (through translator): I put my daughter on top of the luggage rack inside of the train.

GUPTA: When the second wave hit, her train was tossed through the air and that was the last thing she remembers.

(on camera): When they say it seems like a bomb went off this is what they're talking about, a square kilometer of utter devastation creating an instant burial ground for more than 500 people. Today, about a week after the tsunami hit, 24 more bodies have been recovered.

(voice-over): Somehow, Chamdrika and her daughter were untouched with only a few scrapes. They escaped through a window. They were the only ones in their entire train car to survive.

The tsunami stripped this entire area of life and of hope. This victim died so suddenly the hand still holds the handkerchief. Reminders of children lost, the most painful to see, a child's shoe, a baby's picture, a grade-schoolers book and a young boy's bike.

As the Sri Lankan Air Force raised bodies from the rubble hundreds stare in stunned silence. Among the dead were those who lived in nearby homes, crushed not only by the waves but also by a train hurdling through the air. It will take an impossibly long time to clean up but eventually this area may return to some sense of what it was. At the same time, Chamdrika and her daughter have already begun to piece back together their own lives.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And at Noon Eastern here on CNN, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will provide a live update from Sri Lanka on CNN's "LATE EDITION" with Wolf Blitzer.

KAYE: There's also another small survivor from the wreck of the Queen of the Sea. This little girl at first was believed to be dead and she was even taken with other bodies to the local morgue but three days later, a worker discovered she was alive and then she was taken to the hospital. Her grandfather believing his entire family had perished was notified that the girl was alive. On Friday they were finally reunited.

HARRIS: And just ahead we'll meet a doctor who is preparing to head home to her native India to do what she can to help tsunami victims.

KAYE: Also, we'll meet another woman who has made it her mission to tell the stories of soldiers after they return from Iraq with their medals.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And this is Rob Marciano in the CNN Weather Center. You're looking at a live picture of the Emerald City. That would be Seattle, Washington, the Space Needle there on your right and if it was light out you'd be able to see Mt. Rainer as well. No rain in Seattle but more rain coming into California, a detailed forecast for the rest of the country coming up in just a few minutes.

CNN SUNDAY MORNING will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

KAYE: Much needed aid is flowing into the regions hit by the tsunamis but it's becoming increasingly difficult to get that aid to the victims. We'll get a live report from Adan (ph), Indonesia in just about 15 minutes.

HARRIS: You know we've heard a lot about how the quake and tsunamis affected Indonesia and Sri Lanka but not as much about India. More than 10,000 people were killed there. Thousands of others are in great need of relief supplies.

Vishnu Sneller is a native of India, as well as a medical doctor, and she plans to travel there to help out with the relief effort. She joins us this morning, good to see you. Thanks for being here. VISHNU SNELLER, RELIEF WORKER: Thank you very much for having me.

HARRIS: OK. When are you planning on leaving?

SNELLER: I'm scheduled to leave on the 9th but it may be a few days afterwards, depending upon the coordination locally.

HARRIS: And where will you land, where are you going? Where are you going to set up your own sort of personal base of operations there?

SNELLER: Well, I would not do it as much personal but I will land in Chinai (ph) and I am coordinating with Aid India and also with the Indian Health Organization, which is a Boston-based company that I've worked with for a long time. And we are looking at three possible places in (UNINTELLIGIBLE), which are all in the very southern coast of (UNINTELLIGIBLE), which is the state.

HARRIS: I see.

SNELLER: I have family that lives in the capital city of (UNINTELLIGIBLE), so I will probably transit going down to the affected areas and then coming back.

HARRIS: OK. You've been here in Atlanta but what have you been hearing? We understand that communication is available and you've been talking to people there on the ground. Give us a sense of what you're hearing about the situation in the areas you've just mentioned.

SNELLER: The Indian government has been very, very active and they've responded very rapidly. There's been a lot of the Indian Army there. There are a lot of Americans that -- Indian Americans that have gone back and are helping as much as they can.

The assistance is coordinated through the district collectors, who are responsible for their areas. They're also delegating relief work, as well as reconstruction work to certain areas and so they're the ones on the ground that are coordinating all this effort.

HARRIS: How bad is it? What are you hearing?

SNELLER: Entire villages have been washed out between these (UNINTELLIGIBLE) but transportation, roads are not very good. There are no ferries going across and so a lot of the fishermen who have had these motorized vehicles are all gone.

We really don't know but the toll that they say is around 14,000 to 19,000 of people in the villages may have already been washed out but there's no way to count because there's not good census available and there's not much of a feeling of how many people had been living there and so on. So, the populations that we can count are the ones that are in the town where there are people available to count.

HARRIS: You're going with a specific mission in mind. You want to help women in the area and children. SNELLER: Right. Apparently there's been a lot of donations of clothes and things coming in but for the women they're sending saris but a lot of the saris have been torn along the way but nothing for under clothes, no children's clothes and so we need some.

We need children's clothes. We need diapers. We need things like personal hygiene for the women, a place for them to stay to cook, to get things back into gear and also to take care of the older people.

HARRIS: And I know that donations can be made to this organization IHO?

SNELLER: The Indian Health Organization is a Boston-based group and we haven't got our website up and ready yet. They're a very small group.

HARRIS: We'll work that out. Yes, we'll work that out.

SNELLER: And so any donations that they want to make can be sent to this address in Atlanta and I'll be able to...

HARRIS: We'll put it together and post it for folks on our website.

SNELLER: And, anyone who give more than $20 we will give them a letter of acknowledgment so that they can give it to the IRS. It's a 501(c) company.

HARRIS: Thanks for being here.

SNELLER: Thank you very much.

HARRIS: Safe travels.

SNELLER: Thank you.

HARRIS: And we'll be in touch with you.

SNELLER: Thank you.

HARRIS: OK.

More miraculous stories of life and survival now, this one out of India, meet Namita Roy (ph) and her newborn baby. Roy survived the tsunamis by running into the jungles.

But, as if that weren't enough, her baby decided it was time for its delivery. With no doctor or nurse on hand, Vishnu you needed to be there, only her family around, Roy delivered the child. Oh, my goodness. About three days later, a Navy ship rescued the mother, child and others from the jungle, my goodness.

KAYE: Still to come on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, how you can lend a hand to victims of the tsunami disaster.

Our "Best of the Web" looks at the best websites you can log onto to help out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Here are some stories making news this morning "Across America."

In (UNINTELLIGIBLE), North Dakota, three dozen members of a church group were injured when a sledding party went awry. More than 100 kids climbed into cardboard boxes and went down a hill that was closed to sledding. They slammed into rocks, a light pole and each other.

Three thousand members of the Texas National Guard got quite a send off for their deployment to Iraq. More than 25,000 friends and family filled Baylor University's football stadium to wave flags and cheer them on wildly. It is the largest deployment of the Texas Guard since World War II.

If the calendar says January 1st, hearty souls around the world are ushering in the New Year with a polar plunge. Oh, yes, look at that. In Boston, unseasonable temps, well above freezing, made the 101-year-old tradition a bit more bearable. In fact, organizers say the 700 or so who turned out may well set a local record.

HARRIS: Hey, Rob, not my idea of a good time but, you know, what is this he's playing?

KAYE: What instrument?

HARRIS: The French horn?

KAYE: That is pretty funny. Those are great people.

HARRIS: Different strokes, Rob, for different folks, there you go.

MARCIANO: That's right.

HARRIS: Polar bears and some enjoy 70 degrees in sunny Florida.

KAYE: Wouldn't find me doing that.

HARRIS: Exactly.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

HARRIS: Oh, let's go to Colin Powell right now.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: The president has dispatched me and Governor Bush and other officials to go to the region and he'll be following it very, very closely and I will certainly represent the president's interests and the commitment of the American people.

But with the delicate situation out there, with all of the people who are now traveling to the region and the need to keep airfields open and to make sure we don't tie up people in just visitors, as opposed to providing relief, I think it's probably best for the president to monitor this from here, as opposed to going to the region.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's some bipartisan support for using some of the unspent reconstruction funds for the tsunami relief efforts. Why is that a bad idea (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

POWELL: I'm not aware of bipartisan support. I've heard one or two Senators make that suggestion. The reason for that is that there is a need for that reconstruction assistance in Iraq and what we don't want to do is start moving funds away from that account when those funds will be needed.

And so, we'll take the funds from different accounts and then ask Congress to make a judgment as to how to replenish those funds through supplemental funding or whatever means the Congress chooses. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much.

HARRIS: That was Secretary of State Colin Powell talking this morning and basically addressing a couple of questions. He was asked about whether President Bush himself should make a trip to Southeast Asia to assess the damage.

Secretary Powell saying that he believes it is unnecessary for the president to make the trip personally and that he would be better using his time if he just sort of monitored the situation from right here in the states. And then he went on to talk about his trips and his plans to go over to Southeast Asia with Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

KAYE: We wanted to make sure that you were able to hear what Colin Powell was saying this morning.

Now, we'd like to turn it back over to Rob with the rest of the forecast. Hello, again.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

KAYE: OK.

HARRIS: Rob, thank you, appreciate it.

Relief challenges now that tsunami aid is coming in, a question remains how will it get to where it needs to go, an update from Indonesia straight ahead.

KAYE: Plus, it's customary for soldiers wounded in war to receive a Purple Heart but what's life like for those decorated troops as they come back home and nurse their wounds? It's today's "Soldier Story" when CNN SUNDAY MORNING returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: A hard road ahead for relief workers trying to get aid to tsunami victims. Welcome back, that story is coming up. I'm Randi Kaye. Betty Nguyen is off today.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Here's what's happening now in the news:

You heard from Secretary of State Colin Powell just moments ago. The secretary boards a plane with his delegation today and heads for south Asia. Among their stops: Indonesia and Thailand. The Powell delegation which includes: Florida governor, Jeb Bush who will assess the urgent need for relief, aid among earthquake and tsunami survivors.

U.N. secretary, General Kofi Annan, is praising the world's historic generosity of providing disaster relief in south Asia, and he will soon see that devastation firsthand. Annan says later this week, he will tour Indonesia after attending a conference there. He is expected to then issue a world appeal for more relief support.

The Election Commission in the Iraqi city of Mosul has resigned, the third such resignation in two months. And a deputy governor in the province says the scheduled January 30 elections have significant problems in Mosul and they cannot be real and fair.

KAYE: The overall death toll in the earthquake in the tsunamis, a week ago now, tops 141,000. It is expected to go much higher. At lease four countries report thousands of people still missing.

U.S. Navy helicopters and aircraft from Australia and Singapore are delivering badly needed relief supplies to hard-hit villages in Indonesia. A spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Command says up to 12,000 Americans are now deployed in the relief effort.

Nations pledging aid to the ravished area of south Asia holds a donor's conference Thursday in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Kofi Annan will be there. Two billion dollars has been pledged to the aid project, but the U.N. secretary-general is expected to ask for more.

HARRIS: We want to talk more about that aid and the relief efforts, now. For more we turn to CNN's Atika Shubert who joins us by videophone from Madan, Indonesia -- Atika.

OK, we'll get back to Atika Shubert in just a couple of minutes. As a matter of fact, let's take her report right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Relief supplies are flooding into Aceh but not fast enough, the infrastructure is simply overwhelmed. With only two small airports to service the area, the skies are literally blocked with traffic from relief flights. Insufficient loading and refueling equipment also means the turnaround time for these desperately need supplies is pains takingly slow.

(on camera): This is the mainware house for relief supplies into Aceh, mountains of food, water, and medical supplies, but getting it to survivors can be a logistical nightmare. (voice-over): A French aid group, Firefighters Without Boarders, has been trying to send a rescue medical team to the devastated west coast of Aceh, an area inaccessible by road they're packed, ready to go but they've been scrambling for almost two days to find transportation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, but I'm sure we will make it today.

I think you have to say, after one bottleneck there's another one, so I should not stop at one, it will end up sometime.

SHUBERT: That's why support like the U.S. Abraham Lincoln carrier group is so badly needed. It is a floating rescue mission, with 6,000 crew, a hospital, and most important, a fleet of helicopters that can reach even thee most inaccessible parts of Aceh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's wonderful because they don't have to park at these airports any longer than to pick up the supplies they need and then move them to the affected areas, so it's -- that's been a great asset for us to have those lily pads, if you will, in the water.

SHUBERT: Helicopter missions, like this, will keep survivors alive for now, but unblocking the logistical bottlenecks on the ground takes time, time many survivors don't have.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT: Well Tony, as you know, getting to these areas can be difficult, there's a few bottlenecks there. One of the bottlenecks, of course, is the airport problem. Simply too many planes coming into too few parking spaces at the airport. The other one is actually transportation on the ground. Roads have been severely disrupted. But just getting enough fuel, getting enough trucks or vehicles on the ground is also proofing to be a big problem, so a few more kinks that still need to be worked out before aid can really start flowing through.

HARRIS: Atika, thank you and as a foot note, U.N. secretary- general Kofi Annan says it will take 10 years -- 10 years to rebuilt the devastated areas of southeast Asia. So how do you give? And how do you know the charity you're giving to is legitimate? It's easier than you think. In ten minutes, we'll tell you how to use the internet to help relief efforts in Asia. That's the focus of today's "Best of the Web" segment.

Thailand's prime minister spoke to CNN a short time ago about the Tsunami disaster, here in an interview you'll only see on CNN, he speaks about the world's response to his country's needs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THAKSIN SHINAWATRA, PRIME MINISTER THAILAND: Thailand does not expect anything from international, except the understanding and the cooperation. But now we received more than we expected. 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 -- we think that the expertise that we have, because we have no experience like this before. But now we have a lot of expertise and experts to help us. That's what we are really happy with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The prime minister says Thailand's current death toll of more than 4,000 people could well double in coming days. He says 6,000 people remain missing. Nearly half are Swedish tourists.

KAYE: Turning now to the latest out of Iraq. North of Baghdad a suicide bomber has struck. Driving a car packed with bombs, the bomber rammed a bus carrying Iraqi National Guardsmen. The explosion outside of a coalition base near Balad killed 18 soldiers, and a civilian Iraqi woman.

In Baghdad, a coalition soldier I dead after a roadside bombing on New Years day. Another soldier was wounded. The soldiers' nationalities were not released.

And a clash along a frequently violent road in central Baghdad, another death, an ambulance driver is dead after evacuating five children from a bloody scene on Haifa Street, then returning to help rescue more people. The driver was killed in the crossfire.

In this morning's "Soldier's Story" we have not the story of just one soldier, but of many. Photographer, Nina Berman's new book, tells the story of 20 soldiers who came back from the war in Iraq forever changes both physically and in other ways. She joins us now live with more.

Nina, I had a chance to look through your book yesterday. And it evokes a lot of emotion, it's very powerful, also very inspiring, I think. What was it about the injured soldiers? You focused on 20 of them. Why just the injured?

NINA BERMAN, "PURPLE HEARTS" AUTHOR: Well, I that felt I wasn't seeing any images of injured solders in the press and to me this was a neglected aspect of the war, the human cost of war and so I went out looking for these soldiers who had been released from hospitals, and found them in their homes and towns across America.

KAYE: We have some pictures from your book that we want to share with our viewers this morning. First let's look at Specialist Jose Martinez, right there. His quote in the book is, "I'm this great Army soldier, I'm this great picture of the Army." Now, that's a pretty powerful statement given that he had his face nearly melted off after a Humvee hit a landmine. What struck you about that quote?

BERMAN: Jose really wanted to stay in the Army, like many wounded soldiers. It was the only life they knew as adults, and getting wounded wasn't only a physical nightmare for them, but also an emotional one and they were separated from their friends and kind of lost in life at that moment. So I think when Jose said that, he was really trying to get his old life back when he was a great Army soldier. KAYE: We also want to look, this morning, at Specialist Sam Ross. His quote there, "I lost my leg, lost my eyesight. I have shrapnel in pretty much every part of my body. A piece is in my neck, sitting behind my trachea and left ear it don't work either." Yet this guy also went on tell it was the best experience of his life. Were you surprised by this positive attitude?

BERMAN: Well, I think that the quotes have very complex meanings and Sam had a really difficult upbringing. He lives in a very, very poor town in western Pennsylvania. His parents kind of abandoned him and so for him, again, the Army, in some ways, was a wonderful experience. It gave him a purpose; it gave him something to do. He says in the book he got to see a lot of countries and so I think you have to take that quote in relation to what his life was like before he went into the Army. Now, Sam lives alone in a trailer in western Pennsylvania and he's blind. He's only 21 years old.

KAYE: If we could continue just with the pictures here, let's next take a look at Specialist Luis Calderon. He writes, "From my neckline now, I cannot feel a thing." Now he was in Baghdad taking down a concrete wall, from what I understand, with Saddam's picture on?

BERMAN: He was actually in Tikrit which was Saddam's hometown.

KAYE: OK. And then he went on to continue to pull that wall even after it had fallen on him.

BERMAN: Right.

KAYE: Did he express any regrets or change in attitude coming back from the war, different from what he might have had before he went?

BERMAN: He was really in a state of shock when I saw him. He had been living at the Tampa V.A. Hospital for several months trying desperately to get discharged. His father got a job at the hospital so he could be close to Luis. My understanding is that Ross Perot put in quite a bit of money so Luis could get a van to move around in because he wasn't getting these benefits from the V.A. and I spoke to someone at the V.A. recently who said that Luis has gained a little bit of weight, but is living pretty much a lonely existence. His wife felt she had to go back to Puerto Rico where they came from and so I don't know how well Luis is going to be doing, actually.

KAYE: All right, Nina Berman, author of "Purple Heart: Back from Iraq" joining us this morning. Thank you, Nina.

HARRIS: How can you help in the aid effort for victims of the tsunami disaster? Many websites offer opportunities to donate, and that's the topic of today's "Best of the Web," the picks when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Checking our top stories now. Latest reports put the death toll from last week's earthquake tsunamis at more than 141,000. Thousands more are missing and those numbers are soon likely to raise the death toll even further. Secretary of state Colin Powell is leading a U.S. mission to the region. The group will review the damage and assess what additional aid can be provided by the U.S. President Bush's brother, Jeb, is also part of that delegation.

And U.S. military helicopters are dropping supplies into the most remote parts of Indonesia's Aceh province. The area was one of the hardest hit and had been virtually been cut off from the world since last Sunday's disaster hit.

And you are looking live there at Phoenix, Arizona this morning. What a beautiful site. Your Sunday forecast coming up in about 10 minutes.

HARRIS: For most Americans, the tsunami disaster is grimly unfolding half a world away, but your opportunity to help is as close as a mouse click and that cyber link is a lifeline, not only limited to donations, those options are the focus of this week's "Best of the Web" and joining us to explain is Rebecca Hurd, the assistant managing editor of "Wired" magazine.

Good morning, Rebecca.

REBECCA HURD, "WEIRD" MAGAZINE: Good morning Tony, happy New Year.

HARRIS: And happy New Year to you. Boy, this whole on-line giving thing is really taking off. And what's the reason for the popularity? I guess part of is its convenience.

HURD: It's definitely convenient. And, actually, I personally think that it's safer than donating on the phone sometimes. If you actually can go on-line and research a site or research an organization before giving money, then you know exactly where that money is going.

HARRIS: OK Rebecca, let's talk about the Red Cross website. It's a good looking website. And how easy is it to access what you want? For example, if you want to target and earmark money for the tsunami relief effort, can you do that easily?

HURD: Yes. You can do that easily. You just go to their site and you choose "international response fund" and that will earmark the money that you give to the American Red Cross for the international relief effort.

HARRIS: OK, and you know, in some cases you think you're giving money directly to the tsunami relief effort, but what you're contributing to is more of a general fund, is that correct?

HURD: That's correct. There's a number of different choices on the site and you can stipulate were you would like your money to go to. And this is true of the Red Cross and many of the other nonprofit organizations that are on-line.

HARRIS: Now, what's the next site we want to take a look at?

HURD: I believe the next site that you have up there is usaid.org. Is that correct?

HARRIS: Yeah, that's it. And what do you think of this site?

HURD: I like this site a lot. This is a -- an independent site that funded by the U.S. government and one of the things that's on this site that if you don't want to give to the Red Cross, I know that that's the very familiar one for most Americans, but this site has a list of at least 50 sites that are officially working to provide aid in the affected areas. And so it has links directly to each one of those sites, and if you are looking for somebody other than the Red Cross to give money to, these are all sites that are working in the area. The Usaid site doesn't provide -- or doesn't accept donations, but all of these sites do.

HARRIS: Right. OK, and charitywatch.org is the next site and that is sort of the watchdog organization that sort of tells you -- is that will right site on the board?

HURD: Yes.

HARRIS: OK.

HURD: If you have questions about a nonprofit organization or you've done a lot of research and you can't decide which one you'd like to give to on your own, the American institute for philanthropy runs this site and what they've done is they've put together a list of nonprofits that helping in the tsunami relief effort and they've graded them based on how much of their money goes to program services, and how much money per dollar they spend on fund raising, so all of the sites that are rated A or B give at least 60 percent of their money to program services and they don't spend more than 35 cents on the dollar to raise additional funds.

HARRIS: And travel.state.gov, this is a site that helps you with all kinds of travel documents and information that you need, forms, in anything you need in terms of your travel plans, where you're going, what the situation is like in that region.

HURD: Exactly and one of the great features of this site is that they let American citizens who are traveling are living abroad to register their whereabouts and contact information on this site so that in the event of an emergency such as the tsunami disaster, they know where you are, and they know how to contact you. And although giving up your personal information to the government may seem a little scary to some people.

HARRIS: Yeah.

HURD: This means that the people who are best equipped and able to help you will know where to find you.

HARRIS: And Rebecca, any bogus tsunami sites yet? You know, that was a problem after the 9/11 attacks. HURD: Yeah, I have not personally come across any, but then I have been mostly looking at official sources and that's really what I recommend for people to do, is don't give away money to an organization that you're not familiar with or that you haven't done research on. There are lots of resources out there, like CharityWatch and the Usaid site that can help you identify legitimate organizations that are doing serious work and that really need your help.

HARRIS: Very good. Rebecca Hurd form "Wired" magazine. Rebecca, as always, good to see you.

HURD: Good to see you.

KAYE: And we want to give you a chance now to check out our e- mail question of the day, once again. We're asking you, as this New Year gets underway, what's the biggest challenge facing America in 2005? We'll read your e-mails when CNN SUNDAY MORNING returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Good morning Phoenix. Today the Arizona Cardinals take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Sun Devil Stadium. That's just one of today's game. It's week 17 and all 32 NFL teams are playing today. Your game-day forecast is coming up in about 90 seconds.

HARRIS: Now here's Kelly Wallace with a look what's ahead next hour on "Inside Politics."

Happy New Year, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, "INSIDE POLITICS": Happy New Year to you, Tony. Up next a special two-hour edition of "Inside Politics Sunday" bringing you the latest information on the tsunami disaster from our correspondents all over southeast Asia and here in Washington. We will also talk with two members of Congress who are about to head to the region and hear from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about whether the U.S. moved quickly enough to respond to what is being called a global catastrophe.

That's all ahead at the top of the hour -- Tony, Randy, back to you.

HARRIS: OK, Kelly, see you at the top of the hour.

KAYE: All morning long we've been reading your e-mails. Our question of the day is: What is the biggest challenge facing America in the year 2005?

HARRIS: And this is an unsigned e-mail, but it's a pretty good one. "The biggest challenge facing the U.S. of A. in 2005 is Iraq in all of its implications.

KAYE: And this next one is signed by Stacy O. She writes, "To convince the leadership of the country as well as the populace of the seriousness of our open borders and our problems with illegal immigration." HARRIS: Thank you all for those e-mails this morning. Let's take a final check of weather now with Rob Marciano at the Weather Center -- Rob.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: The world's kind of upside-down right now.

ROB MARCIANO, METEOROLOGIST: A little bit.

KAYE: I kind of like it.

HARRIS: Well, good to see you Rob. Welcome back. We'll see you next weekend.

MARCIANO: All right.

KAYE: Well, that's it for us this morning. Thanks so much for watching. We'll see you back here next weekend. "Inside Politics Sunday" is coming your way next.

Aired January 2, 2005 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And, good morning everyone. It is January 2. This is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm Tony Harris.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: It is 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 6:00 a.m. out West. Good morning, I'm Randi Kaye in for Betty Nguyen. Thanks for starting your Sunday with us.

Secretary of State Colin Powell leaves today for South Asia, along with the president's brother. Powell and Jeb Bush will assess the tsunami disaster and determine Washington's role in providing relief. As Florida's governor, Jeb Bush has vast experience in dealing with natural disasters.

President Bush is to return to the White House today after spending the holidays at his ranch in Texas. It has been a working vacation in many ways. Mr. Bush has spent much of his time mobilizing Washington's response to the tsunami disaster.

A suicide car bomber has launched the latest pre-election attack in Iraq. He rammed his vehicle into a bus carrying Iraqi national guardsmen north of Baghdad. Eighteen soldiers were killed and one civilian Iraqi woman. Earlier reports had said the bomber was actually driving the bus. Those reports proved untrue.

California is bracing for more severe weather after a weeklong 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.

Keeping you informed, CNN the most trusted name in news.

HARRIS: And here's what's coming up this hour.

We'll go to Banda Aceh to assess the enormous obstacles to the worldwide relief programs for the region. The man leading the U.N.'s food program there will join us.

Then the "Best of the Web," we will look at how the Internet is becoming a life line to the region. Our "Best of the Web" segment looks at online giving.

And, in today's "Soldier Story," the courage and the cost of war, we'll talk to the author of "Purple Hearts" back from Iraq.

KAYE: If you're just joining us this morning our top story is the latest developments in the tsunami disaster. The overall death toll continues to rise, although not nearly as quickly as before. The estimated death toll is now 141,000, up 3,000 from just 24 hours ago. Many thousands are still missing though.

Emergency aid has begun reaching some of the hardest hit villages. Helicopters and planes from the U.S. Navy, Australia, Singapore and from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta are all involved in bringing in badly needed supplies.

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

HARRIS: Now, a picture in contrast, safe but changed forever, a man stares into the calm sea in Phuket, Thailand today. Just a week ago these tranquil waters were transformed by an unprecedented force of nature into a scene of death and misery.

Also in Phuket, survivors, thankful to be alive, attend church services to pray for family members who died in the disaster. A similar scenario plays out in Sri Lanka. Buddhist services are held in Colombo to secure blessings for those killed seven days earlier.

For an update now on the latest from the disaster zone, CNN's Mike Chinoy joins us by phone with the latest, hello Mike.

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (by telephone): Hello.

Well, I went out and spent most of Sunday here in the west of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital in the direction of the worst hit areas. We've seen pictures from the air.

I was on a helicopter with the U.S. Navy yesterday and on the ground it's even more terrifying, horrifying, whole towns just literally leveled, nothing but the foundations of buildings. These are communities right on the shore who were just completely annihilated by the tsunami.

I went as far as where the main bridge that leads to the west coast normally would be except that the tsunami shattered the bridge and that's making ground transport to get aid to those most in need extremely difficult. There was just a kind of makeshift ferry, a few small boats going back and forth.

But there was a steady stream of helicopters flying overhead, American, Australian bringing food and medicine and water to those areas that are completely cut off.

Nonetheless, aid workers here are expressing concern about a number of issues because this province, Aceh, has been involved in a very bloody civil war between separatist rebels and the Indonesian military.

Many international organizations have not been able in the past to operate in the province and, therefore, just the sheer logistical concerns like where do you put people when they come, how do you move around, what kind of transport do you have, how to communicate, all of that is very, very problematic. And so that is meaning that even though supplies of aid are beginning to come in, the longer term process of getting a real relief effort underway is still very, very uncertain very, very difficult.

HARRIS: Mike, just a couple of questions if we have time. When did you get on scene?

CHINOY: I first got here about 48 hours after the tsunami, first thing on Tuesday.

HARRIS: OK. I guess my thought is describe from your point of view what it's been like the first few days after to where we are today, a full week later.

CHINOY: Yes. Well, when we got here basically there were almost no other reporters here and the place was still utterly shell shocked. There were enormous mass graves. I saw one near the airport with 1,000 people that they were bulldozing bodies into the ground.

There was no relief presence to speak of. People were absolutely without food and medicine and drinking water. People were sleeping out on the streets. There were bodies literally littering many, many streets, even just especially right in the sort of downtown area. You'd drive down the street and you'd find 50 corpses putrefying in the tropical sun.

Since then, slowly but steadily, first the Indonesian armed forces became more visible on the street. Secondly, we did have an influx of aid workers. We've got most of the main organizations, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, the Red Cross, a number of organizations from Southeast Asia.

Now, we've got these big military relief operations underway, so there's no question that people are now coming to the rescue and also the locals themselves have begun to organize themselves.

For example, I was talking earlier today with a group of volunteers who had come into Aceh to try and retrieve and bury corpses and they were led by a guy whose normal job is an IT engineer.

HARRIS: Yes.

CHINOY: But it's still a daunting task. This group had pulled about 700 bodies from the rubble in the past five days and they told me at this rate it's going to take four months just to clean up the bodies.

HARRIS: My goodness, OK, Mike Chinoy reporting for us, Mike we appreciate it. Thank you.

An eerie irony has emerged from the tsunami disaster. Amid scenes of unimaginable devastation and death, survivors with only minor injuries, which is not to say they are not deeply hurt, their wounds are hard to see and may take a long time to heal.

Here's CNN's Senior Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Sri Lanka.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a coastal southern Sri Lankan town these gentle waves don't give any indication of the devastation they could wreak.

When the tsunami came, it not only swept swimmers and boats out to deep sea but half a kilometer inland it swept a train right off its tracks, throwing the cars around as if they were toys.

Chamdrika Gunaseka, a school teacher and her daughter were returning home that day and had almost made it when the train suddenly screeched to a halt. They weren't alarmed at first, thinking it was a villager stepping on the tracks to commit suicide, a disturbingly common event in this deprived area of Sri Lanka, but then she looked to her right.

CHAMDRIKA GUNASEKA, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR (through translator): I started shouting "Oh my God" and grabbed my daughter.

GUPTA: She was staring right into the first wave of the tsunami.

GUNASEKA (through translator): The water was rising incredibly fast and very quickly it rose to the train bar. Our heads floated to the top of the train box. It all happened in less than two minutes. I just kept thinking what can I do?

GUPTA: At the time, she thought only of her daughter.

GUNASEKA (through translator): I put my daughter on top of the luggage rack inside of the train.

GUPTA: When the second wave hit, her train was tossed through the air and that was the last thing she remembers.

(on camera): When they say it seems like a bomb went off this is what they're talking about, a square kilometer of utter devastation creating an instant burial ground for more than 500 people. Today, about a week after the tsunami hit, 24 more bodies have been recovered.

(voice-over): Somehow, Chamdrika and her daughter were untouched with only a few scrapes. They escaped through a window. They were the only ones in their entire train car to survive.

The tsunami stripped this entire area of life and of hope. This victim died so suddenly the hand still holds the handkerchief. Reminders of children lost, the most painful to see, a child's shoe, a baby's picture, a grade-schoolers book and a young boy's bike.

As the Sri Lankan Air Force raised bodies from the rubble hundreds stare in stunned silence. Among the dead were those who lived in nearby homes, crushed not only by the waves but also by a train hurdling through the air. It will take an impossibly long time to clean up but eventually this area may return to some sense of what it was. At the same time, Chamdrika and her daughter have already begun to piece back together their own lives.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And at Noon Eastern here on CNN, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will provide a live update from Sri Lanka on CNN's "LATE EDITION" with Wolf Blitzer.

KAYE: There's also another small survivor from the wreck of the Queen of the Sea. This little girl at first was believed to be dead and she was even taken with other bodies to the local morgue but three days later, a worker discovered she was alive and then she was taken to the hospital. Her grandfather believing his entire family had perished was notified that the girl was alive. On Friday they were finally reunited.

HARRIS: And just ahead we'll meet a doctor who is preparing to head home to her native India to do what she can to help tsunami victims.

KAYE: Also, we'll meet another woman who has made it her mission to tell the stories of soldiers after they return from Iraq with their medals.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And this is Rob Marciano in the CNN Weather Center. You're looking at a live picture of the Emerald City. That would be Seattle, Washington, the Space Needle there on your right and if it was light out you'd be able to see Mt. Rainer as well. No rain in Seattle but more rain coming into California, a detailed forecast for the rest of the country coming up in just a few minutes.

CNN SUNDAY MORNING will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

KAYE: Much needed aid is flowing into the regions hit by the tsunamis but it's becoming increasingly difficult to get that aid to the victims. We'll get a live report from Adan (ph), Indonesia in just about 15 minutes.

HARRIS: You know we've heard a lot about how the quake and tsunamis affected Indonesia and Sri Lanka but not as much about India. More than 10,000 people were killed there. Thousands of others are in great need of relief supplies.

Vishnu Sneller is a native of India, as well as a medical doctor, and she plans to travel there to help out with the relief effort. She joins us this morning, good to see you. Thanks for being here. VISHNU SNELLER, RELIEF WORKER: Thank you very much for having me.

HARRIS: OK. When are you planning on leaving?

SNELLER: I'm scheduled to leave on the 9th but it may be a few days afterwards, depending upon the coordination locally.

HARRIS: And where will you land, where are you going? Where are you going to set up your own sort of personal base of operations there?

SNELLER: Well, I would not do it as much personal but I will land in Chinai (ph) and I am coordinating with Aid India and also with the Indian Health Organization, which is a Boston-based company that I've worked with for a long time. And we are looking at three possible places in (UNINTELLIGIBLE), which are all in the very southern coast of (UNINTELLIGIBLE), which is the state.

HARRIS: I see.

SNELLER: I have family that lives in the capital city of (UNINTELLIGIBLE), so I will probably transit going down to the affected areas and then coming back.

HARRIS: OK. You've been here in Atlanta but what have you been hearing? We understand that communication is available and you've been talking to people there on the ground. Give us a sense of what you're hearing about the situation in the areas you've just mentioned.

SNELLER: The Indian government has been very, very active and they've responded very rapidly. There's been a lot of the Indian Army there. There are a lot of Americans that -- Indian Americans that have gone back and are helping as much as they can.

The assistance is coordinated through the district collectors, who are responsible for their areas. They're also delegating relief work, as well as reconstruction work to certain areas and so they're the ones on the ground that are coordinating all this effort.

HARRIS: How bad is it? What are you hearing?

SNELLER: Entire villages have been washed out between these (UNINTELLIGIBLE) but transportation, roads are not very good. There are no ferries going across and so a lot of the fishermen who have had these motorized vehicles are all gone.

We really don't know but the toll that they say is around 14,000 to 19,000 of people in the villages may have already been washed out but there's no way to count because there's not good census available and there's not much of a feeling of how many people had been living there and so on. So, the populations that we can count are the ones that are in the town where there are people available to count.

HARRIS: You're going with a specific mission in mind. You want to help women in the area and children. SNELLER: Right. Apparently there's been a lot of donations of clothes and things coming in but for the women they're sending saris but a lot of the saris have been torn along the way but nothing for under clothes, no children's clothes and so we need some.

We need children's clothes. We need diapers. We need things like personal hygiene for the women, a place for them to stay to cook, to get things back into gear and also to take care of the older people.

HARRIS: And I know that donations can be made to this organization IHO?

SNELLER: The Indian Health Organization is a Boston-based group and we haven't got our website up and ready yet. They're a very small group.

HARRIS: We'll work that out. Yes, we'll work that out.

SNELLER: And so any donations that they want to make can be sent to this address in Atlanta and I'll be able to...

HARRIS: We'll put it together and post it for folks on our website.

SNELLER: And, anyone who give more than $20 we will give them a letter of acknowledgment so that they can give it to the IRS. It's a 501(c) company.

HARRIS: Thanks for being here.

SNELLER: Thank you very much.

HARRIS: Safe travels.

SNELLER: Thank you.

HARRIS: And we'll be in touch with you.

SNELLER: Thank you.

HARRIS: OK.

More miraculous stories of life and survival now, this one out of India, meet Namita Roy (ph) and her newborn baby. Roy survived the tsunamis by running into the jungles.

But, as if that weren't enough, her baby decided it was time for its delivery. With no doctor or nurse on hand, Vishnu you needed to be there, only her family around, Roy delivered the child. Oh, my goodness. About three days later, a Navy ship rescued the mother, child and others from the jungle, my goodness.

KAYE: Still to come on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, how you can lend a hand to victims of the tsunami disaster.

Our "Best of the Web" looks at the best websites you can log onto to help out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Here are some stories making news this morning "Across America."

In (UNINTELLIGIBLE), North Dakota, three dozen members of a church group were injured when a sledding party went awry. More than 100 kids climbed into cardboard boxes and went down a hill that was closed to sledding. They slammed into rocks, a light pole and each other.

Three thousand members of the Texas National Guard got quite a send off for their deployment to Iraq. More than 25,000 friends and family filled Baylor University's football stadium to wave flags and cheer them on wildly. It is the largest deployment of the Texas Guard since World War II.

If the calendar says January 1st, hearty souls around the world are ushering in the New Year with a polar plunge. Oh, yes, look at that. In Boston, unseasonable temps, well above freezing, made the 101-year-old tradition a bit more bearable. In fact, organizers say the 700 or so who turned out may well set a local record.

HARRIS: Hey, Rob, not my idea of a good time but, you know, what is this he's playing?

KAYE: What instrument?

HARRIS: The French horn?

KAYE: That is pretty funny. Those are great people.

HARRIS: Different strokes, Rob, for different folks, there you go.

MARCIANO: That's right.

HARRIS: Polar bears and some enjoy 70 degrees in sunny Florida.

KAYE: Wouldn't find me doing that.

HARRIS: Exactly.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

HARRIS: Oh, let's go to Colin Powell right now.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: The president has dispatched me and Governor Bush and other officials to go to the region and he'll be following it very, very closely and I will certainly represent the president's interests and the commitment of the American people.

But with the delicate situation out there, with all of the people who are now traveling to the region and the need to keep airfields open and to make sure we don't tie up people in just visitors, as opposed to providing relief, I think it's probably best for the president to monitor this from here, as opposed to going to the region.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's some bipartisan support for using some of the unspent reconstruction funds for the tsunami relief efforts. Why is that a bad idea (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

POWELL: I'm not aware of bipartisan support. I've heard one or two Senators make that suggestion. The reason for that is that there is a need for that reconstruction assistance in Iraq and what we don't want to do is start moving funds away from that account when those funds will be needed.

And so, we'll take the funds from different accounts and then ask Congress to make a judgment as to how to replenish those funds through supplemental funding or whatever means the Congress chooses. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much.

HARRIS: That was Secretary of State Colin Powell talking this morning and basically addressing a couple of questions. He was asked about whether President Bush himself should make a trip to Southeast Asia to assess the damage.

Secretary Powell saying that he believes it is unnecessary for the president to make the trip personally and that he would be better using his time if he just sort of monitored the situation from right here in the states. And then he went on to talk about his trips and his plans to go over to Southeast Asia with Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

KAYE: We wanted to make sure that you were able to hear what Colin Powell was saying this morning.

Now, we'd like to turn it back over to Rob with the rest of the forecast. Hello, again.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

KAYE: OK.

HARRIS: Rob, thank you, appreciate it.

Relief challenges now that tsunami aid is coming in, a question remains how will it get to where it needs to go, an update from Indonesia straight ahead.

KAYE: Plus, it's customary for soldiers wounded in war to receive a Purple Heart but what's life like for those decorated troops as they come back home and nurse their wounds? It's today's "Soldier Story" when CNN SUNDAY MORNING returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: A hard road ahead for relief workers trying to get aid to tsunami victims. Welcome back, that story is coming up. I'm Randi Kaye. Betty Nguyen is off today.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Here's what's happening now in the news:

You heard from Secretary of State Colin Powell just moments ago. The secretary boards a plane with his delegation today and heads for south Asia. Among their stops: Indonesia and Thailand. The Powell delegation which includes: Florida governor, Jeb Bush who will assess the urgent need for relief, aid among earthquake and tsunami survivors.

U.N. secretary, General Kofi Annan, is praising the world's historic generosity of providing disaster relief in south Asia, and he will soon see that devastation firsthand. Annan says later this week, he will tour Indonesia after attending a conference there. He is expected to then issue a world appeal for more relief support.

The Election Commission in the Iraqi city of Mosul has resigned, the third such resignation in two months. And a deputy governor in the province says the scheduled January 30 elections have significant problems in Mosul and they cannot be real and fair.

KAYE: The overall death toll in the earthquake in the tsunamis, a week ago now, tops 141,000. It is expected to go much higher. At lease four countries report thousands of people still missing.

U.S. Navy helicopters and aircraft from Australia and Singapore are delivering badly needed relief supplies to hard-hit villages in Indonesia. A spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Command says up to 12,000 Americans are now deployed in the relief effort.

Nations pledging aid to the ravished area of south Asia holds a donor's conference Thursday in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Kofi Annan will be there. Two billion dollars has been pledged to the aid project, but the U.N. secretary-general is expected to ask for more.

HARRIS: We want to talk more about that aid and the relief efforts, now. For more we turn to CNN's Atika Shubert who joins us by videophone from Madan, Indonesia -- Atika.

OK, we'll get back to Atika Shubert in just a couple of minutes. As a matter of fact, let's take her report right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Relief supplies are flooding into Aceh but not fast enough, the infrastructure is simply overwhelmed. With only two small airports to service the area, the skies are literally blocked with traffic from relief flights. Insufficient loading and refueling equipment also means the turnaround time for these desperately need supplies is pains takingly slow.

(on camera): This is the mainware house for relief supplies into Aceh, mountains of food, water, and medical supplies, but getting it to survivors can be a logistical nightmare. (voice-over): A French aid group, Firefighters Without Boarders, has been trying to send a rescue medical team to the devastated west coast of Aceh, an area inaccessible by road they're packed, ready to go but they've been scrambling for almost two days to find transportation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, but I'm sure we will make it today.

I think you have to say, after one bottleneck there's another one, so I should not stop at one, it will end up sometime.

SHUBERT: That's why support like the U.S. Abraham Lincoln carrier group is so badly needed. It is a floating rescue mission, with 6,000 crew, a hospital, and most important, a fleet of helicopters that can reach even thee most inaccessible parts of Aceh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's wonderful because they don't have to park at these airports any longer than to pick up the supplies they need and then move them to the affected areas, so it's -- that's been a great asset for us to have those lily pads, if you will, in the water.

SHUBERT: Helicopter missions, like this, will keep survivors alive for now, but unblocking the logistical bottlenecks on the ground takes time, time many survivors don't have.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT: Well Tony, as you know, getting to these areas can be difficult, there's a few bottlenecks there. One of the bottlenecks, of course, is the airport problem. Simply too many planes coming into too few parking spaces at the airport. The other one is actually transportation on the ground. Roads have been severely disrupted. But just getting enough fuel, getting enough trucks or vehicles on the ground is also proofing to be a big problem, so a few more kinks that still need to be worked out before aid can really start flowing through.

HARRIS: Atika, thank you and as a foot note, U.N. secretary- general Kofi Annan says it will take 10 years -- 10 years to rebuilt the devastated areas of southeast Asia. So how do you give? And how do you know the charity you're giving to is legitimate? It's easier than you think. In ten minutes, we'll tell you how to use the internet to help relief efforts in Asia. That's the focus of today's "Best of the Web" segment.

Thailand's prime minister spoke to CNN a short time ago about the Tsunami disaster, here in an interview you'll only see on CNN, he speaks about the world's response to his country's needs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THAKSIN SHINAWATRA, PRIME MINISTER THAILAND: Thailand does not expect anything from international, except the understanding and the cooperation. But now we received more than we expected. 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 -- we think that the expertise that we have, because we have no experience like this before. But now we have a lot of expertise and experts to help us. That's what we are really happy with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The prime minister says Thailand's current death toll of more than 4,000 people could well double in coming days. He says 6,000 people remain missing. Nearly half are Swedish tourists.

KAYE: Turning now to the latest out of Iraq. North of Baghdad a suicide bomber has struck. Driving a car packed with bombs, the bomber rammed a bus carrying Iraqi National Guardsmen. The explosion outside of a coalition base near Balad killed 18 soldiers, and a civilian Iraqi woman.

In Baghdad, a coalition soldier I dead after a roadside bombing on New Years day. Another soldier was wounded. The soldiers' nationalities were not released.

And a clash along a frequently violent road in central Baghdad, another death, an ambulance driver is dead after evacuating five children from a bloody scene on Haifa Street, then returning to help rescue more people. The driver was killed in the crossfire.

In this morning's "Soldier's Story" we have not the story of just one soldier, but of many. Photographer, Nina Berman's new book, tells the story of 20 soldiers who came back from the war in Iraq forever changes both physically and in other ways. She joins us now live with more.

Nina, I had a chance to look through your book yesterday. And it evokes a lot of emotion, it's very powerful, also very inspiring, I think. What was it about the injured soldiers? You focused on 20 of them. Why just the injured?

NINA BERMAN, "PURPLE HEARTS" AUTHOR: Well, I that felt I wasn't seeing any images of injured solders in the press and to me this was a neglected aspect of the war, the human cost of war and so I went out looking for these soldiers who had been released from hospitals, and found them in their homes and towns across America.

KAYE: We have some pictures from your book that we want to share with our viewers this morning. First let's look at Specialist Jose Martinez, right there. His quote in the book is, "I'm this great Army soldier, I'm this great picture of the Army." Now, that's a pretty powerful statement given that he had his face nearly melted off after a Humvee hit a landmine. What struck you about that quote?

BERMAN: Jose really wanted to stay in the Army, like many wounded soldiers. It was the only life they knew as adults, and getting wounded wasn't only a physical nightmare for them, but also an emotional one and they were separated from their friends and kind of lost in life at that moment. So I think when Jose said that, he was really trying to get his old life back when he was a great Army soldier. KAYE: We also want to look, this morning, at Specialist Sam Ross. His quote there, "I lost my leg, lost my eyesight. I have shrapnel in pretty much every part of my body. A piece is in my neck, sitting behind my trachea and left ear it don't work either." Yet this guy also went on tell it was the best experience of his life. Were you surprised by this positive attitude?

BERMAN: Well, I think that the quotes have very complex meanings and Sam had a really difficult upbringing. He lives in a very, very poor town in western Pennsylvania. His parents kind of abandoned him and so for him, again, the Army, in some ways, was a wonderful experience. It gave him a purpose; it gave him something to do. He says in the book he got to see a lot of countries and so I think you have to take that quote in relation to what his life was like before he went into the Army. Now, Sam lives alone in a trailer in western Pennsylvania and he's blind. He's only 21 years old.

KAYE: If we could continue just with the pictures here, let's next take a look at Specialist Luis Calderon. He writes, "From my neckline now, I cannot feel a thing." Now he was in Baghdad taking down a concrete wall, from what I understand, with Saddam's picture on?

BERMAN: He was actually in Tikrit which was Saddam's hometown.

KAYE: OK. And then he went on to continue to pull that wall even after it had fallen on him.

BERMAN: Right.

KAYE: Did he express any regrets or change in attitude coming back from the war, different from what he might have had before he went?

BERMAN: He was really in a state of shock when I saw him. He had been living at the Tampa V.A. Hospital for several months trying desperately to get discharged. His father got a job at the hospital so he could be close to Luis. My understanding is that Ross Perot put in quite a bit of money so Luis could get a van to move around in because he wasn't getting these benefits from the V.A. and I spoke to someone at the V.A. recently who said that Luis has gained a little bit of weight, but is living pretty much a lonely existence. His wife felt she had to go back to Puerto Rico where they came from and so I don't know how well Luis is going to be doing, actually.

KAYE: All right, Nina Berman, author of "Purple Heart: Back from Iraq" joining us this morning. Thank you, Nina.

HARRIS: How can you help in the aid effort for victims of the tsunami disaster? Many websites offer opportunities to donate, and that's the topic of today's "Best of the Web," the picks when we return.

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KAYE: Checking our top stories now. Latest reports put the death toll from last week's earthquake tsunamis at more than 141,000. Thousands more are missing and those numbers are soon likely to raise the death toll even further. Secretary of state Colin Powell is leading a U.S. mission to the region. The group will review the damage and assess what additional aid can be provided by the U.S. President Bush's brother, Jeb, is also part of that delegation.

And U.S. military helicopters are dropping supplies into the most remote parts of Indonesia's Aceh province. The area was one of the hardest hit and had been virtually been cut off from the world since last Sunday's disaster hit.

And you are looking live there at Phoenix, Arizona this morning. What a beautiful site. Your Sunday forecast coming up in about 10 minutes.

HARRIS: For most Americans, the tsunami disaster is grimly unfolding half a world away, but your opportunity to help is as close as a mouse click and that cyber link is a lifeline, not only limited to donations, those options are the focus of this week's "Best of the Web" and joining us to explain is Rebecca Hurd, the assistant managing editor of "Wired" magazine.

Good morning, Rebecca.

REBECCA HURD, "WEIRD" MAGAZINE: Good morning Tony, happy New Year.

HARRIS: And happy New Year to you. Boy, this whole on-line giving thing is really taking off. And what's the reason for the popularity? I guess part of is its convenience.

HURD: It's definitely convenient. And, actually, I personally think that it's safer than donating on the phone sometimes. If you actually can go on-line and research a site or research an organization before giving money, then you know exactly where that money is going.

HARRIS: OK Rebecca, let's talk about the Red Cross website. It's a good looking website. And how easy is it to access what you want? For example, if you want to target and earmark money for the tsunami relief effort, can you do that easily?

HURD: Yes. You can do that easily. You just go to their site and you choose "international response fund" and that will earmark the money that you give to the American Red Cross for the international relief effort.

HARRIS: OK, and you know, in some cases you think you're giving money directly to the tsunami relief effort, but what you're contributing to is more of a general fund, is that correct?

HURD: That's correct. There's a number of different choices on the site and you can stipulate were you would like your money to go to. And this is true of the Red Cross and many of the other nonprofit organizations that are on-line.

HARRIS: Now, what's the next site we want to take a look at?

HURD: I believe the next site that you have up there is usaid.org. Is that correct?

HARRIS: Yeah, that's it. And what do you think of this site?

HURD: I like this site a lot. This is a -- an independent site that funded by the U.S. government and one of the things that's on this site that if you don't want to give to the Red Cross, I know that that's the very familiar one for most Americans, but this site has a list of at least 50 sites that are officially working to provide aid in the affected areas. And so it has links directly to each one of those sites, and if you are looking for somebody other than the Red Cross to give money to, these are all sites that are working in the area. The Usaid site doesn't provide -- or doesn't accept donations, but all of these sites do.

HARRIS: Right. OK, and charitywatch.org is the next site and that is sort of the watchdog organization that sort of tells you -- is that will right site on the board?

HURD: Yes.

HARRIS: OK.

HURD: If you have questions about a nonprofit organization or you've done a lot of research and you can't decide which one you'd like to give to on your own, the American institute for philanthropy runs this site and what they've done is they've put together a list of nonprofits that helping in the tsunami relief effort and they've graded them based on how much of their money goes to program services, and how much money per dollar they spend on fund raising, so all of the sites that are rated A or B give at least 60 percent of their money to program services and they don't spend more than 35 cents on the dollar to raise additional funds.

HARRIS: And travel.state.gov, this is a site that helps you with all kinds of travel documents and information that you need, forms, in anything you need in terms of your travel plans, where you're going, what the situation is like in that region.

HURD: Exactly and one of the great features of this site is that they let American citizens who are traveling are living abroad to register their whereabouts and contact information on this site so that in the event of an emergency such as the tsunami disaster, they know where you are, and they know how to contact you. And although giving up your personal information to the government may seem a little scary to some people.

HARRIS: Yeah.

HURD: This means that the people who are best equipped and able to help you will know where to find you.

HARRIS: And Rebecca, any bogus tsunami sites yet? You know, that was a problem after the 9/11 attacks. HURD: Yeah, I have not personally come across any, but then I have been mostly looking at official sources and that's really what I recommend for people to do, is don't give away money to an organization that you're not familiar with or that you haven't done research on. There are lots of resources out there, like CharityWatch and the Usaid site that can help you identify legitimate organizations that are doing serious work and that really need your help.

HARRIS: Very good. Rebecca Hurd form "Wired" magazine. Rebecca, as always, good to see you.

HURD: Good to see you.

KAYE: And we want to give you a chance now to check out our e- mail question of the day, once again. We're asking you, as this New Year gets underway, what's the biggest challenge facing America in 2005? We'll read your e-mails when CNN SUNDAY MORNING returns.

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KAYE: Good morning Phoenix. Today the Arizona Cardinals take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Sun Devil Stadium. That's just one of today's game. It's week 17 and all 32 NFL teams are playing today. Your game-day forecast is coming up in about 90 seconds.

HARRIS: Now here's Kelly Wallace with a look what's ahead next hour on "Inside Politics."

Happy New Year, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, "INSIDE POLITICS": Happy New Year to you, Tony. Up next a special two-hour edition of "Inside Politics Sunday" bringing you the latest information on the tsunami disaster from our correspondents all over southeast Asia and here in Washington. We will also talk with two members of Congress who are about to head to the region and hear from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about whether the U.S. moved quickly enough to respond to what is being called a global catastrophe.

That's all ahead at the top of the hour -- Tony, Randy, back to you.

HARRIS: OK, Kelly, see you at the top of the hour.

KAYE: All morning long we've been reading your e-mails. Our question of the day is: What is the biggest challenge facing America in the year 2005?

HARRIS: And this is an unsigned e-mail, but it's a pretty good one. "The biggest challenge facing the U.S. of A. in 2005 is Iraq in all of its implications.

KAYE: And this next one is signed by Stacy O. She writes, "To convince the leadership of the country as well as the populace of the seriousness of our open borders and our problems with illegal immigration." HARRIS: Thank you all for those e-mails this morning. Let's take a final check of weather now with Rob Marciano at the Weather Center -- Rob.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: The world's kind of upside-down right now.

ROB MARCIANO, METEOROLOGIST: A little bit.

KAYE: I kind of like it.

HARRIS: Well, good to see you Rob. Welcome back. We'll see you next weekend.

MARCIANO: All right.

KAYE: Well, that's it for us this morning. Thanks so much for watching. We'll see you back here next weekend. "Inside Politics Sunday" is coming your way next.