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CNN Live Sunday

How To Avoid Buying Flood Damaged Car; South Asian Earthquake Deaths Climb to 20,000

Aired October 09, 2005 - 16:00   ET

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

GERRI WILLIS, CNN ANCHOR: Unfolding this hour, help from the U.S. is on the way to south Asia where a massive earthquake left thousands dead. We're live on the scene.
Also, stepped up patrols on New York subways: today is one of the days mentioned as a possible target date for an attack.

And consumers beware, that car you're about to buy, well, it may have suffered water damage. Warning signs to look for.

Welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Gerri Willis.

A busy hour just ahead, but first, other stories now in the news.

It's no threat to land, but Tropical Storm Vince is making a name for itself in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean. It's the 20th named storm of the season, making 2005 the second busiest season since records started being kept in 1851.

And a progress report on the Katrina recovery efforts. Lieutenant General Russel Honore says most of the U.S. military could be out of the region by the end of the week. Honore says 14 million cubic yards of debris has been dredged from the city so far. Engineers estimate there's some 8 billion cubic yards of debris in the region.

And Hurricane Tammy is taking a toll in the north. New Hampshire's governor has declared a state of emergency after remnants of the storm caused scattered flooding. Most of it is concentrated in the southwest corner of the state. At least one person has died in the flooding.

It was a magnitude 7.6 earthquake, but the magnitude of the aftermath its is off the scales. A day after the tremor struck south Asia, the death toll stands at 20,000. But there's little time for mourning. The mission now: reaching the countless men, women and children still alive and trapped underneath the rubble.

This is just one hub of desperate activity you're seeing here. A collapsed apartment building in Islamabad, Pakistan. Workers there are frantically looking for signs of life.

The earthquake struck about 60 miles from the Pakistani capital. CNN's Matthew Chance is there -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, absolute devastation, not just here in Pakistan but areas of India, as well and of areas of Afghanistan also. So a region wide catastrophe, really, that has befallen those countries.

As many as 20,000 people believed to be killed. And that's just initial estimates. We're still in the process of seeing rescue teams move out to those more outlying remote areas to get a bigger picture of exactly the scale of those casualties. So absolute tragedy all over there.

And amidst that tragedy, surprisingly perhaps, there are elements of hope that we've been witnessing, as well particularly here in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. It's not a city that was severely that was affected by this earthquake. That has to be said up front.

But this one building right behind me was a ten-story apartment block full of people. It collapsed over its own courtyard obviously causing a great deal of death and destruction and devastation. And since that Saturday morning earthquake struck here local time, rescue teams have been on top of that pile of rubble digging frantically to find some human life.

There's been some success in the early minutes after the earthquake struck, at least 90 people managed to struggle away from the building, either being dug out by neighbors or managing to extricate themselves from the rubble that had fallen on top of them.

But there are at least believed to be at least 100 people still trapped inside. And as I say, rescue efforts have been frantic in an attempt to find and extricate those still alive.

Much attention over the course of this day has been focused on a woman who the rescue workers heard shout for help in amongst the rubble. They lowered microphones to try and trace exactly where she was. They located her. She was screaming for help. They've been trying to get to her.

In the meantime, though, they found a man who had remained silent up until they were nearly right up against that woman, and in the last few moments, they actually brought that man out. He was more or less walking wounded they say, just dehydrated, no serious injuries. He was taken away from the hospital and the search continues for others.

WILLIS: There was, of course, panic when the earthquake struck yesterday morning. CNN has obtained exclusive video of the moment it shook Islamabad. A cell phone camera captured these sounds and images.

Islamabad was spared the worst of the damage. The quake flattened entire villages outside the city. The Pakistani government has declared three days of mourning for the victims starting today.

The earthquake killed and injured thousands of people in Kashmir, the region that is separating Pakistan from its neighbor India. In India-controlled Kashmir, many buildings are damaged or collapsed and land slides have blocked roads. CNN's Ram Ramgopal is in Kashmir and joins us now from the town of Srinigar. RAM RAMGOPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, indeed, Gerri we have actually just returned from a trip to the line of control which actually divides these two parts of Kashmir. And I can tell you that certainly in the town of Uri which sits right on the line of control, there's almost total devastation in some areas.

Many of the buildings were built of flimsy material, perhaps of brick, perhaps of wood as is common in these parts. And those buildings have totally collapsed. And also the military, the Indian military which has a big presence in this region has seen some damage to its headquarters in that town.

Now apart from this, Gerri, we have also been told by local residents that Uri might be the tip of the iceberg, that there are many villages that are far flung, that are remote away from the real urban centers where it's very hard to tell how badly damaged these little tiny villages really are.

In fact, as you pointed out, it's not really clear how bad the damage is because the roads are all -- have all been cut off. And there's very little way of ensuring what the communication links between these villages and the main centers have also been cut at this point.

So at this stage, Indian officials are saying they're still waiting to determine how large the earthquake indeed was in this part of Kashmir -- Gerri.

WILLIS: Ram, can you tell us -- do you have any idea how long it will take to understand how many people were affected by this earthquake in those remote areas?

RAMGOPAL: According to one official we spoke to today, he said that it could be a matter of a few days. They are trying to assess it. But there are some other residents in this area who believe it could take much longer.

This area has a number of nomadic peoples who basically herd cattle their across these mountains. In fact, they herd them across these geographical boundaries that have been drawn by political powers, very often they stray cross the line of control into the other side. There is some concern, according to these residents, that some of these herdsmen, people who take their sheep up the mountains, may have also been affected. Of course, it may take a few days before the picture really becomes clearer -- Gerri.

WILLIS: A very sad story. Ram, thank you for that report.

President Bush says U.S. help is on the way to the earthquake disaster area. He spoke with his Pakistani counterpart by phone offering condolences and assistance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One of the biggest concerns for the government of Pakistan is not enough air lift capacity to get in some of these rural areas where people are suffering. So we're moving choppers. Secretary Rumsfeld is surveying the assets that he may be able to move in the area. We're working with Pakistan at all levels of government.

Pakistan's a friend. And the United States government and the people of the United States will help as best as we possibly can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: The U.S. is also giving half a million dollars to the American Red Cross for Pakistan relief. And a special American team is on the way to the country to coordinate assistance. Stay with CNN for continuing coverage of the earthquake in south Asia. We'll have live reports from the disaster zone throughout the day.

New York Police are on high alert for what's expected to be a busy evening on the city's subways. Tonight, the Yankees go head to head against the Angels in the playoffs. It's also one of the days mentioned as a target date for a possible subway attack. CNN's Keith Oppenheim is monitoring the situation there at Times Square.

Keith, good to see you.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Gerri. And I've been talking to New York officials as well as New York subway riders about the security threat throughout the weekend. And keep in mind, while New York mayor Mike Bloomberg decided to make this issue to tell the people what he described as a credible threat, he's also been telling the public to go about life as normal and to take the trains. And for the most part, that's exactly what we have been seeing people doing.

Here at Times Square and other stops, we have noticed an increased police presence. Also in some other heavily traveled parts of Manhattan.

Now, New York officials have said that this threat originated in Iraq, involved a possible use of explosives hidden in baby carriages. And according to our sources as you were indicating the threat mentioned last Friday and today, this Sunday, as a possible day for an attack to occur.

Reaction from riders, though, has been quite mixed. A few have been expressing some jitters about riding the train, but most are defiant saying they won't do anything differently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need to do certain things, and as she was saying, I'm not going to have anybody telling me what I'm not doing. So, I made no change in plans. I jumped on the train as soon as I could to get where I had to go. I had to travel out of state a couple times over the weekend and I wasn't about to not do that because of some scare. I can't live like that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I'm nervous. I'm okay with saying that. I think a lot of people are nervous but I have to go to work I have to pay bills. So I must do these things. But I'm not happy to live in this state. No, I'm not happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: Gerri, one of the really interesting things about this story is that there continues to be a division between some federal agencies and New York City agencies about how seriously to take this threat. Department of Homeland Security officials continue to cast doubt on the credibility of this threat. But throughout the weekend, New York mayor Mike Bloomberg and Commissioner Ray Kelly have said that they believe it was right for them to take this threat seriously, that they continue to feel that way and feel right by their decision to warn the public.

Back to you.

WILLIS: Keith, those New Yorkers are pretty steely. Thank you for that report. Keith Oppenheim.

CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night.

Tragedy in Guatemala: landslides kill hundreds. A live report just ahead.

Plus, getting the trains back on track. As the city tries to get back on schedule, we'll go live to New Orleans for the development.

And don't get scammed: cars damage by Rita and Katrina, they are now on the market. We'll make sure you don't buy one. Car expert Loren Fix joins us this hour on CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: Tragedy is being compounded by more heart break in storm ravaged Guatemala. Landslides and flooding resulted from Hurricane Stan and seasonal rains have killed hundreds of people. Hardest hit, the village Panabaj. It's been buried under of tons of mud. And now, there's talks that the search for bodies may end. CNN's Harris Whitbeck joins me now by telephone from Panabaj.

Harris, what's happening there?

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Gerri, well, the authorities are considering declaring this entire village a graveyard, because the mud is so deep that they simply cannot continue searching for more bodies. That is compounded by the fact that continued rains in the area make the earth around this village unstable and they fear that more mudslides could ensue.

So the situation is quite dramatic. This town normally has a population of 4,000 or 5,000 people. The local authorities believe that possibly up to 1,000 might have been buried in their homes on Thursday night when the rains caused these very, very heavy mudslides. Survivors are still working -- or trying to get access to the area to dig in the rubble, dig in the mud to search for their dead. But again the authorities, local authorities are beginning to think that it would be just a futile effort now.

There's also a lot of frustration because very little aid has gotten to this area. People are running out of food and water and medicines. And while aid has been reaching -- has started to reach the regional capital Sol Ela (ph), that aid is not being distributed to the towns around the Lake Ateclan (ph) because of what locals say is a bureaucratic attempt at the local level to basically to complicate things. So the levels of frustration are increasing. And again, people are just trying to help themselves out among themselves as much as they can.

This is a very important tourist destination, a lot of European and Americans come here. We ran into a group of about four Swedes, students from Sweden, who arrived in Guatemala about a week ago, and they decided to interrupt their vacation to start helping people dig out of the rubble.

But again, that's really the only tangible help from the outside world that many of these people have seen.

WILLIS: Harris, it sounds like a desperate situation there. What's the weather like? Are you getting any help from the weather? And what's the outlook?

WHITBECK: Well, no, the weather's not cooperating at all as you said. This is the normal rainy season in Guatemala. And while Hurricane Stan might be long gone now, it still continues to rain here. And that again makes the earth unstable, making for the possibility of more landslides and also the low cloud cover prevents helicopters from accessing these areas. So, it's very complicate. And it looks like the weather is not going to change in at least the next 24 hours or so.

WILLIS: Well Harris Whitbeck, thank you so much for that report. Stay safe.

The Iraqi government wants as many people as possible to vote in the country's upcoming constitutional referendum so it's handing out copies of the draft constitution to get voters familiar with the document ahead of Saturday's vote.

And to ease fears about insurgent attacks, more than 70,000 local police and soldiers will provide security at polling centers along with U.S. troops.

Iraq's national security adviser insists Saddam Hussein will go on trial ten days from now despite efforts to push back the proceedings. And while we know the official start date is October 19, there are many aspects of this trial that remain a mystery.

CNN's Aneesh Raman has this report from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the two years since his capture, the question has never been far from the Iraqi mind: when will Saddam Hussein face justice? And now with the world just days away from Saddam's first trial, there are still a great many unknowns.

July 17, the Iraqi special tribunal's chief investigative judge, Raid Juhi, charged Saddam Hussein with the first of many cases with what happened here in the small dusty town of Dujil (ph) in 1982, the detention and execution of more than 140 and the imprisonment of more than 1,000 after a failed assassination attempt.

RAID JUHI, CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE JUDGE (through translator): The Iraqi Special Tribunal has entered a new phase, the phase of the actual trial.

RAMAN: We know on October 19, the trial for the eight men accused of the Dujil (ph) crimes is scheduled to begin despite reports of delays. We do not know, though, how long it will last. Saddam's defense team, an ever-changing group, has said they would immediately petition for a delay.

Tribunal sources also say that Saddam is unlikely to appear in court for some time, that they will call other defendants to establish a chain of command and Saddam's culpability. And while the death penalty is available as a sentence in this trial, it is unclear when such a punishment would be carried out.

This is not one trial against one man, this is the first of a series of trials against a number of defendants, including Saddam. Which means the entire legal process could go on well into next year.

For Iraqis, there is confusion.

ISMAEL ZAIR, EDITOR, AL-SABAH NEWSPAPER: Local people don't know what's going on and what will happen. What is the forum of the trial and the court.

RAMAN: They only know that their former dictator is now a defendant.

(on camera): This trial will be about more than justice, it will also be about Iraqis confronting their past. Murals of Saddam still linger here today. This one behind me battered by anger, a reminder of the emotions to soon resurface.

Aheesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS: William Bennett speaks out, but the former education secretary did not apologize for his earlier remarks that some found offensive. We'll tell you what he did say.

And the devastation caused by Katrina and Rita left other cities asking are we ready? We'll tell you how one city is making plans so the worst doesn't happen to them. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: Former education secretary William Bennett is standing by his controversial remarks linking race and crime. On his radio show last month, Bennett told a caller, if your sole purpose is to reduce crime, you could, quote, abort every black baby in this country. He went on to say that would be a, quote, a ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down, end quote.

Yesterday Bennett spoke at a business conference in California and had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BENNETT, FORMER EDUCATION SECRETARY: Although I cannot apologize for what I said and meant, which when understood in context ought not to be objectionable, I regret that people have misrepresented my views so that they have been the cause of hurt and controversy and confusion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: Bennett says he only made a bad argument in order to put it down. He says the media reported his comments out of context.

There's a lot of bickering going on between conservative Republicans about the nomination of Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court. What's triggering the in-fighting? Well, no one's sure exactly where she stands on abortion and other controversial issues. And that's making some Christian conservatives nervous.

For the latest, we turn to CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello. That's right. Actually, Harriet Miers is in Dallas this weekend, that is where she is collecting her records and trying to build up this dossier, if you will, of accomplishments from her previous posts, including her time with the Dallas city council. All this part of a concerted effort from the White House to prove to conservatives that she is indeed qualified for the job. But the big question is whether or not they will be able to convince her.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): While nominee Harriet Miers was attending church services in Dallas, in Washington, conservatives were declaring all-out war over her nomination, directing much of their anger at the president.

PAT BUCHANAN, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: Much of the conservative movement is at war with their own president.

GARY BAUER, AMERICAN VALUES COALITION: The problem that we have is that when you make a mistake with a Supreme Court appointment, it's a 20-year mistake.

MALVEAUX: As some conservatives ratcheted up their rhetoric, calling for Miers to withdraw her nomination, others urged their fellow Republicans to cool down, saying Miers would be faithful to Mr. Bush's agenda.

RICHARD LAND, SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION: If someone is disloyal -- if someone betrays a trust in Texas, they're right down there with child molesters and ax murderers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think what the president wants a vote that reflects his point of view. You know, some of these great, brilliant scholars go off the reservation.

MALVEAUX: One of the first issues the Senate Judicial Committee will tackle is whether the White House provided anyone with information about how Miers might vote on hot button social issues like abortion, gay marriage and the roll of religion. Conservative activist James Dobson created a stir on his Wednesday radio broadcast when after being briefed about Miers by Mr. Bush's top political aide, Karl Rove, Dobson suggested he had special insights.

DR. JAMES DOBSON, CONSERVATIVE RADIO SHOW HOST: When you know some of the things that I know that I probably shouldn't know, that take me in this direction, you will understand why I have said with fear and trepidation why I have said that I believe Harriet Miers will be a good justice.

MALVEAUX: Since then, in meetings with Senate committee members, Miers has tried to clear up the controversy.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY, (D) VERMONT: So we at least start with the fact that she says she has not told anybody or assured anybody how she would vote.

MALVEAUX: But senators say they are still considering calling on Dobson and Rove to testify before their committee.

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER, (R) JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN: If there were back room assurances and back room deals and if there is something which bears upon a precondition as to how a nominee is going to vote, I think that's a matter that ought to be known by the Judiciary Committee and the American people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: While the president and the administration continue their campaign of course, to move forward and push forward Harriet Miers, President Bush also continuing his campaign to convince Americans that he is dealing with hurricane recovery. Tomorrow again, he travels to New Orleans and then on to Mississippi on Tuesday -- Gerri.

WILLIS: Suzanne Malveaux, thank you for that report.

In Pakistan, thousands dead. The numbers keep rising. Ahead, we'll show you an aerial view of the earthquake's destruction in Northern Pakistan.

Plus, cars flooded after Hurricane Katrina and Rita. Now some of them are being put back on the market. How to make sure you don't end up with a damaged vehicle.

And a new discovery in the fight against cancer. How a new vaccine could be 100 percent effective against the main causes of cervical cancer. That's all ahead on CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: Checking now the stories in the news.

Flattened villages and a growing death toll a day after a powerful earthquake struck south Asia. Authorities have now counted at least 20,000 bodies. And that number is expected to grow. Rescue teams are working around the clock to reach people trapped in the rubble. Pakistan's government is pleading for international assistance.

Another grim search is underway in Guatemala. Teams there are trying to find the remains of hundreds feared dead after massive landslides and flooding. One landslide wiped out an entire town. Officials say it may now be a muddy mass grave.

Tropical storm Vince formed today in the far eastern Atlantic. It's the 20th named storm of this hurricane season. It's not expected to last long and it's not threatening land. Vince makes the hurricane season the second busiest on record.

Now back to south Asia and the earthquake disaster. The Pakistani government is dealing with damage of catastrophic proportions. The tremor wiped entire communities and changed the geography in some places. CNN's Satinder Bindra saw some of the devastation first hand from the air and from ground. He's in Pakistani control Kashmir.

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I've just come back from a extended tour with the Pakistan army. We flew in a helicopter and from the air it was quite evident that the northwest frontier province has suffered extensive damage. This is the town of Balakote. Some 70 percent of the buildings here have been flattened according to the Pakistani president himself. Some 2,000 people may have perished here. Now the force of the earthquake, the intensity of the earthquake was so severe in this region that we saw mountainsides that had developed cracks in them. Hundreds of homes were also destroyed in Pakistani control Kashmir. But the most damage and the maximum casualties were suffered in the town of Mustrobad (ph).

Here I visited one school in which 60-65 children were killed when their school building collapsed in a heap around them. The Pakistani army has launched a massive relief operation, it is evacuating hundreds of wounded people to hospitals but many people complaining that either the relief was too little or it was arriving too late.

The Pakistani president saying relief efforts are being hampered by roads, which have been blocked by landslides. He's now appealing to the international community for help. He wants helicopters so he can access more remote areas in the northern part of his country. These helicopters say Pakistani officials can evacuate critically injured people and bring in tents, medicines and food for thousands whose homes have been destroyed.

Over the next 24 hours, more international rescue teams are expected to arrive to help Pakistan deal with its worst ever earthquake.

Satinda Bindra, CNN, Pakistan controlled Kashmir.

WILLIS: Stay with CNN for continuing coverage of the earthquake in south Asia. We'll have live reports from the disaster zone throughout the day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All aboard! On the crescent.

WILLIS: Amtrak's city of New Orleans rolls back into the big easy. The resumption of passenger rail service is a welcome sign in a city that's beginning to recover from hurricane Katrina. Let's go live now to you to New Orleans and CNN's Lisa Sylvester. Lisa.

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there Gerri. Yeah, this is indeed a sign that the city is gradually coming back to life. The first trains left out of New Orleans at 7:20 in the morning. That train had only 17 people on it. Another afternoon train left at 1:40, that train had a few more people, about 43 or so. We had a chance to talk to some of the folks, many of them are people who returning, they've been back just for a couple of days or so to check on the conditions of their houses.

This services, Amtrak service is important to them because there are so many people who don't have cars that perhaps lost their cars in hurricane Katrina. But it's also very important to local employees Amtrak employees to getting them back to work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For me, it symbolizes hope and that New Orleans will be able to come back from this.

SYLVESTER: Normally, Amtrak has four lines of service running, but as of now, they only have two of those routes running. They actually are hoping to get service to Houston and to points west of here to Texas within the next few weeks or so. But service east of here to Mobile, Alabama and those areas hardest hit by hurricane Katrina, it's going to be awhile before service resume there's.

Gerri:

WILLIS: Lisa, thank you for that report. CNN's Lisa Sylvester.

If you're in the market for a used car, listen up. A lot of people are trying to offload cars that were flooded and otherwise damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. So how can you protect yourself from getting scammed? Joining me now from Buffalo is Lauren Fix, she is an automotive expert and co-host of "Talk to DIY Automotive." Lauren welcome.

LAUREN FIX, CO-HOST, "TALK TO DIY AUTOMOTIVE:" Thank you Gerri.

WILLIS: So this is like adding insult to injury right? You have these cars that are damaged by the hurricanes and then somebody out there decides guess what, I'm going to make some money off of them. Tell me, how unusual is this?

FIX: It's not that unusual. They're predicting between 300,000 and 500,000 cars. There's no real count. There's different forms of damage from the ones you see floating on your video to ones that have a minimal amount of damage. You have to be careful because some people don't have insurance coverage. You don't want to take a loss on what you've got. They fix it up and try to sell it off. You really have to be careful. Because there's no warranty on a flood-damaged car.

WILLIS: So Lauren are these cars already in the marketplace?

FIX: Yeah, some of them are already out there. We've seen some of them. Others will be out there. With 300,000 potential cars, some of them will be shredded. There are no questions. But the ones that aren't, that are marked flood damaged, if the buyer buys them in what is called a lot, which means a whole bunch of cars at once, they take the best of those cars and try and resell them and they wash the titles. Another words they send them from --

WILLIS: What does that mean?

FIX: Send them from state to state through auctions or by having someone privately re-title it and then re-title it back into another state. The problem is these victims are already suffering from being displaced and could go back to their state of Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana and end up with flood-damaged cars.

WILLIS: Well it sounds like the worst possible scenario. What's the problem with buying one of these cars? Are they dangerous to your health? Are they going to break down?

FIX: Both actually. First off, from the health perspective, there's e. coli in those cars just like it is in a lot of those homes, as well as mold and mildew and the fact that rust and all that, you don't want to breathe that. If you are having health issues, this is definitely something you want to avoid. So it you open up a up a car that you are looking in and it smells moldy or you turn on the air conditioning and put your nose at the vent and it smells not right, you need to be able to walk away from those cars.

WILLIS: Lauren can I just use a Website like Car fax to find out where a car is from and if there's a potential problem?

FIX: Car fax does have a lot of them. But what they won't have is vehicles that don't have insurance. And there are a lot of them down there that don't have comprehensive. On the other hand not every single vehicle is going to be listed. Car fax does an excellent job and they are a good company. However, you still need to be buyer beware. You need to open the hood. If you see surface rust in a car 2000 and newer that is a car you don't want to have surface rust under the hood or under the trunk. Or if you see mismatched carpeting or the interior smells like it's got too much perfumes. One of the easiest things you can do is look at the dome light. If you see moisture in that dome light or the brackets that hold the dashboard to the car has rusted, you want to avoid that car. You have to be willing to walk away no matter who you good a deal it is.

WILLIS: And Lauren, we've got to say here that the victims are most likely to be women, right?

FIX: That's true. The average women make 85 percent of the buying decisions. You know, the nice buyer, the nice seller, everything seems to be going -- they seem like nice people. We tend to be very trusting. Even though we go our homework we go to Car fax, we go on the Internet, we know what we're looking for, and we can be tricked as easy as anyone else. The scam artists know that. So you need to be sure, and if you're not sure, take it to a certified technician and ASE certified technician. If they say this is a flood car, don't buy it. If you have to replace the computer or the brain of that car, it's going to cost you thousands of dollars and it's not covered underneath warranty.

WILLIS: So Lauren just review here, we're looking for mildew smells, any water that you see at all, rust stains right.

FIX: Rust, including moisture in the dome light. If you see mismatched carpeting or the car smells too perfumed. There are a lot of things you can do to check, but if you see rust in odd places on a 2000 or newer car, you really don't want that vehicle. If you do buy that vehicle, keep in mind air bags may not deploy. Seat belts may not work properly in accidents. You don't want to find your family in that position.

WILLIS: Well Lauren Fix, I think you helped us make sure we fix this problem. Thank you.

FIX: Thank you, Gerri.

WILLIS: Cities across the country are reassessing their emergency plans in the wake of hurricane Katrina. Richmond, Virginia, a city that is no stranger to disaster could serve as a valuable model for preparedness. CNN's Kathleen Koch shows us why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): August 2004, tropical storm Gaston dumped 14 inches of rain on Richmond and officials found they had no way to get the word out to everyone in the path of the rushing water. But it was hurricane Katrina that taught city leaders there and around the country a harder lesson.

BENJAMIN JOHNSON, RICHMOND EMERGENCY MANAGER: You will be primarily on your own and until the federal government gets there. We do know we don't know how long that will be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fire marshal has ordered that a one square mile radius in proximity to city hall be evacuated immediately.

KOCH: So the city has created a reverse 911 systems to call every phone within an affected area if an evacuation is needed.

BILL HOBGOOD, RICHMOND PUBLIC SAFETY: The quickest that you can possibly get a notification out to the people that are going to be affected then the chances are that you're going to save some lives.

CORA HAYES, FAIRFIELD COURT TENANT COUNCIL: This book tells you how to do your homes. Tape your windows and doors.

KOCH: Richmond has printed emergency guides. Community leaders like Cora Hayes are eager to distribute them after what they saw happen in New Orleans.

HAYES: The first thing that I thought of is I don't want our residents to be in that predicament.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Underclothes for three to five days.

KOCH: Her neighbors are still haunted by the images of residents trapped in the battered city.

REV. MARY H. JONES, FAIRFAX COURT RESIDENT: I wake up at night thinking about death. That could happen to me.

KOCH: Richmond plans to use city and school buses to evacuate its needy citizens along newly designated evacuation routes. It signed mutual aid agreements with four nearby cities to help one another in case of an emergency.

JOHNSON: We're kind of cutting to the chase and saying, you know, if we need help, it's here. You guys can bring it and vice versa. We would be able to bring help at a moment's notice.

KOCH: In Washington, Congress will be evaluating what cities like Richmond are doing.

REP. MIKE MCCAUL, (R) TEXAS: We'll look at plans all across the country to see which ones work better and which ones don't.

KOCH: Because everyone's learned, that once disaster strikes, it's too late.

Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS: Some good news, a possible break through in the fight against cancer. How a new vaccine could help prevent cervical cancer when CNN LIVE SUNDAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WILLIS: And in other health news today, a cervical cancer vaccine is being called a tremendous break through for women's health. Its maker Merck is seeking FDA approval but the vaccine doesn't block all forms of the disease. Here to help us with answers, Dr. Bill Lloyd joins us from Sacramental to give us some perspective on the new vaccine. Dr. Lloyd.

DR. BILL LLOYD, SURGEON: Hi Gerri. It's good to have some good news about medicine for once in awhile about a clinical study that actually turned out solid information that will soon be using.

WILLIS: Yes you bet. How big a break through is this?

LLOYD: We're talking about actually preventing cancer. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease. There are certain strains of that virus that are responsible for cervical cancer in women. This new Merck vaccine which they call Garidsill (ph) will protect about 70 percent of the cervical cancer cases. One hundred percent for type 16 and 18.

WILLIS: How many types are there? It seems like there must be hundreds, thousands.

LLOYD: We know there are hundreds of types of the same HPV virus. It's like having a very large family with hundreds of members but everybody has different fingerprints. Small changes in the DNA of that HPV virus are responsible for giving a different identity to each strain and some strains, as you know, are responsible for cervical cancer.

WILLIS: And some of them are responsible for something called genital warts. Are those not cancerous and then they turn into cancer sometimes?

LLOYD: Yeah, there's a story line. Some of the warts go away on their own. Others will cause trouble and they go back to those different sero types of different identities, type 6 and 11 cause warts and the new vaccine will protect you from those. Type 16 and 18 can cause warts but if left untreated, a percentage of them can cause that fatal cervical cancer.

WILLIS: So having this vaccine, does that mean women don't have to get pap smears?

LLOYD: Well they predict at some time in the future as this vaccine develops and more and more sero types offer protection, it may not be as necessary to have as frequent pap smears. But right now Merck is encouraging everyone to know that they still continue to need to have routine women's health care and continue to have their pap smears and maybe in a year or so, they'll be able to offer vaccine protection to younger women to protect them from acquiring that HPV infection.

WILLIS: All right. Dr. Bill here's the obvious question. Since men transmit this virus, why are aren't we worrying about inknockcuelating them in some way? LLOYD: It's true that men give the HPV virus to women. And there is some discussion about vaccinating young boys in the future. Just like other school age vaccinations. They do get it from men, but you know, the vaccine trials were done with women. We know the vaccine works when it is given to women. To shift gears right now and all of a sudden start giving the vaccine to an untested group probably wouldn't make a lot of sense. Here's another thing to think about. Plenty of women take birth control pills even though their partners use condoms. Women want ownership of their own health and their own reproductive decisions. This also includes protecting themselves not only from a sexually transmit disease but protecting themselves from cervical cancer, as well.

WILLIS: Dr. Bill thanks for your time today.

LLOYD: We'll talk again soon.

WILLIS: There's a new tropical storm forming. We'll tell you where Vince is and where it's heading. Plus --

That's the alarm clock that won't stop. Especially when you want it to. How clocky gets you up and gets you going when CNN LIVE SUNDAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: Checking news across America. A Kenyan and American are the winners of this year's Chicago marathon. Kenyan's Felix Lima won the men's division and 2004 Olympic bronze medallist Dina Caster won the women's division, taking her first marathon title. Some 40,000 runners entered today's event. Among those registered, Georgia's famous runway bride, Jennifer Wilbanks.

A student at M.I.T. has a solution of sorts for people who repeatedly hit the snooze button. She designed something called clocky. It is an alarm clock with a ton of attitude, a microprocessor allows it to move and hide in unpredictable places, imagine that beeping until sleepyhead gets up. Or throws it across the room.

It's called tropical storm Vince and its formation in the eastern Atlantic is one for the record books. Vince is the 20th named storm of 2005, making this the second busiest hurricane season on record. The waters between the Azores and Canary Islands where Vince is are generally cooler than needed for a tropical storm. So forecasters don't expect it to last too long.

Wet weather and snow are affecting different areas of the U.S. our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras has a check of your forecast.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It was a washout of a weekend across much of the northeast. And unfortunately we're going to see more of that tonight, tomorrow and even into your Tuesday. It doesn't like till the middle of the week before we start to dry out and flood watches remain posted across much of the northeast also. We're going to see these little impulses push back into the region and that's why we'll stay so wet. Our frontal boundary just kind of stalled out here. Our other big weather story is going to be the snow across parts of Colorado and on up into Wyoming. It will be heavy at times, especially in the higher elevations to the west of Denver. Could get anywhere between six and 12 inches of snowfall. Denver started out with the rain today. That's going to be changing over to snow overnight tonight. You could see several inches. Snow should persist throughout much of the day for tomorrow. A slight risk of thunderstorms across western Texas, and eastern parts of New Mexico. Temperatures warm into the lone star state with 81 this afternoon for Dallas and in Houston. There you can see that cool air digging in back behind our storm system.

Temperatures in the east feeling like fall. 68 in D.C. and only 73 in Atlanta. More of the same across the east coast tomorrow. But Mid-Atlantic's going to pick up a little bit with that rain threat not so much there today or tonight, but kicking in again for your Monday. There you can see all the white stuff across the rocky mountain region. The other note with the storm system as it passes, that's going to help to bring winds up into the southwest, the Santa Ana winds will be blowing tonight and into tomorrow. With very dry conditions here, that will be increasing the fire threat. Temperatures in the 70s for San Francisco and L.A. 86 degrees in Phoenix. Only 37 get ready for winter in Denver.

WILLIS: And coming up, the view from above. An aerial look at the destruction and devastation across northern Pakistan. That's ahead on CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: Ahead this hour, the view from earthquake ravaged Pakistan. Entire villages, flattened. The death toll rising. Rescue workers rush to answer calls for help from beneath the rubble. And then another disaster. half a world away. A massive landslide literally wiped out a village in Guatemala. We are going to have the latest.

Plus, added security in New York City. Today, October 9th, one of the possible days mentioned for an alleged attack.

Hello and welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Gerri Willis. All that and more after this check of the headlines.

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