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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Tsunami Death Toll Could Surpass 100,000; World Mobilizes Relief Efforts

Aired December 29, 2004 - 17:00   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.


JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, catastrophic loss. It's worse than we first pictured. The number of dead from the tsunami could now surpass 100,000. Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): Moment of impact. New pictures from a shattered city. Now, too many bodies to bury.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The truth be, some of the faces -- every (UNINTELLIGIBLE) may be dead the tsunami.

MESERVE: Millions grow desperate for clean water, food and shelter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Health officials are getting very concerned. They're fearing the outbreak of an epidemic that could kill thousands more.

MESERVE: Can America make a difference?

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're a very generous, kind-hearted nation.

MESERVE: President Bush says the U.S. relief effort is just beginning. Critics say may it already be too little, too late.

Starting over, they've lost their children. He's lost his entire family. Together, they're becoming a new family.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Wednesday, December 29th, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: Thanks for joining us. I'm Jeanne Meserve in for Wolf Blitzer. Days after tsunamis slammed the shore, the bodies are still piling up, but the living need urgent care. In India, mass funeral pyres. Officials fear the losses on remote islands are far worse than first believed. We'll speak with India's ambassador to United States.

Hardest hit was Indonesia, where a provincial capital was reduced to rubble, its population decimated. We'll see the destruction in Banda Aceh. The impact in outlying areas we can only image.

Can aid reach the survivors in time? As the first frantic relief efforts are launched, the U.S. gears up for a massive operation.

Every day, sometimes twice a day, the death toll has seemingly been doubling. It now stands at more than 80,000, according to officials in the stricken countries. Relief groups say the count could climb to more than 100,000. Indonesia's health ministry reports more than 45,000 dead with many more still accounted for. Sri Lankan authorities have raised their death toll to more than 23,000. Thousands remain missing there.

A United Nations official says that in parts of Indonesia's Aceh province, one out of every four people may be dead. The provincial capital took the brunt of it, as astonishing new pictures show. Dan Rivers reports from the shattered city of Banda Aceh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, ITV REPORTER: This was the moment of impact in Banda Aceh. This staggering footage taken by a family on a second-floor apartment as the sea swallowed their town. Terrified, the family think they will surely die. Somehow, they escaped.

Four days on, this is the scene in the port area, perhaps one of the most devastated sectors of this crippled town. We picked our way through with our guide. Missing persons posters turned to uptown trollers. It was surreal, obscene. Stranded boats, the twisted wreckage of a once thriving fishing community.

In the town center, corpses are being pulled by the hundreds from the ruins in Banda Aceh. There is a nauseating stench everywhere, death and decay at every turn. The army is throwing in troops, but they're facing apocalyptic destruction. In time, neighborhoods raised to the ground.

Like many, this man has lost everything. His home, his family.

(on camera): Nothing left?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have nothing left. My house is gone. Destroyed. Everything.

RIVERS: Destroyed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

If you want a graphic illustration of the sheer power of this tsunami, have a look at this. This trollo (ph) was smashed a mile and a half into the center of Banda Aceh. The locals say the tsunami was 60 feet high.

(voice-over): Those that survived are trying to clear the streets, but so far, there is apparently little outside help. Banda Aceh is now in acute crisis. They are desperate for basic supplies. The destruction is relentless, street after street utterly destroyed. Survivors, stupefied by this carnage. In some places, only dogs survived, waiting in vain for their owners. But out of town, the horror of all those deaths is concentrated at one place. Lorries streaming in, carrying body after body.

(on camera): I've seen some terrible, awful sights today. But this is by far the worst. They're burying bodies by lorrie load here, in mass graves. They estimate there will be tens of thousands of corpses here by the end of the week.

Dan Rivers, ITV News, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Every structure along Sri Lanka's southern coast was damaged or swept away by the killer wave. More than 20,000 are dead on the island nation. CNN's Satinder Bindra is with the survivors in Matara, in southern Sri Lanka.

Reporter: Help and relief at last for thousands who have lost everything. Their loved ones are dead. Their homes destroyed. And their belongings swept away. Now, they'll have to live on handouts for weeks and frightening memories for the refuse of their lives. My father was pushed by the water onto the street says this man. That was the last I saw of him. Now when he buries his father, he says millions of Sri Lankans feels the light has gone out of their lives. He shows me what remains of the restaurant that he built with his life savings.

I feel like I'm alone. I can't think of what I can do in the future.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Help and relief at last for thousands who've lost everything. Their loved ones are dead, their homes destroyed and their belongings swept away. Now they'll have to live on handouts for weeks and frightening memories for the rest of their lives.

"My father was pushed by the water onto the street," says survivor Unhra Opradaki (ph). "That was the last I saw of him." Now as he buries his father, Unhra Opradaki says millions of Sri Lankans feel the light has gone out of their lives.

Gamani Sumit Naniakar (ph) shows me what remains of the restaurant he built with his life savings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like I am alone. I have -- I can't think of what I can do in the future.

BINDRA: Others feel it's time to try to shake loose their shock. They employ local ingenuity to pull their valued possessions from under tons of debris. What lingers on here is an intense and overpowering smell.

(on camera): Decomposed bodies are still being found everywhere. And health officials are getting very concerned. They're fearing the outbreak of an epidemic that could kill thousands more. (voice-over): So far there are no reports of any major health problems in southern Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, hundreds continue scrambling for food and cookies. As he receives his tiny portion, this boy manages a smile. It's his way, perhaps, of saying thanks to all of those across the world who are trying to help Sri Lanka.

Satinder Bindra, CNN, Matara, southern Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: In the middle of the Indian Ocean, there's destruction and devastation on remote areas belonging to India. CNN's Suhasini Haidar reports from the Nicobar Islands.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUHASINI HAIDAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Days after the tsunami struck, Indian officials are still discovering the full extent of the damage and the number of people killed in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of the Indian Ocean. Here in the island of Car Nicobar, one of the worst affected, the devastation is complete, and hundreds of survivors are now queuing up to get on evacuating planes out of here, people telling horrifying stories of how they lost their loved ones, their homes, and walked miles and miles through forest for days without food.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There are entire families which have been wiped away. Children have been separated from their parents. There are dead bodies all over. We are more worried about the people who are in the forests and are injured, as relief hasn't reached them. I hope the government can do something for them.

HAIDAR: Now the jetties around the islands have been destroyed, as well, so they only way of bringing relief in is to fly to them. Officials telling us their pilots are working around the clock, each plane bringing in with it food, water and medicine, and taking out as many survivors as they can.

Suhasini Haidar, CNN, Car Nicobar, in the Indian Ocean.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: More aftershocks from the major earthquake that caused the tsunamis are being felt around the region. The U.S. Geological Survey, which monitors seismic activity around the world, reports that a magnitude 6.1 aftershock was recorded early today. It was followed, about four hours later, by a 6.2 aftershock. The epicenters of both aftershocks was reportedly below the Nicobar Islands, some 900 miles off the coast of India.

The killer waves did not discriminate. In Thailand, more than 1,800 deaths have been reported there, many of them tourists. There are still many missing. CNN's Matthew Chance went to a makeshift morgue on the coast of Phuket. We must warn you that some of the images are graphic. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Beneath this smashed concrete, a whole family is trapped. But this is no search for survivors, just more bodies for Thailand to count. This is where the awesome power of the tsunami struck this country hardest. In the mud, reminders of the many lives lived and lost here. Rescue workers told us only half the dead have yet been recovered. The final horrific cost of this disaster still in doubt.

"When we first arrived, it was total destruction," he says. "There were bodies all over the place. We've cleared it up a lot. I believe there are many more beneath this rubble."

And for days, makeshift morgues, like this one, the grounds of a Buddhist temple, have filled with the remains of Thais and tourists alike. Forensic teams are helping with identification, but in a few days, they say, mass cremations will have to begin.

(on camera): This is a scene of the most gruesome kind. The bodies have been laid out in the hundreds here. And they're now being sprayed with disinfectant, laid out so that their families, their loved ones, survivors can try and identify them. But these are appalling conditions. It's hot and humid and the stench is overwhelming.

(voice-over): And so is the grief. The days here are now filled with hurried funerals. This family told me of their terrible loss, seven dead, ages 79 to just 6.

"We don't know what to do," says Layat (ph), the grandmother. We've gone crazy. I don't think I can survive all alone, she says. No comfort. Her loneliness will be shared by so many.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Panang (ph), Thailand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: American aid on the way but some critics say the relief efforts are too little, too late. The battle for hearts and minds, could the destruction caused by the tsunamis lead to an increase in global terrorism?

Eerily empty, the first pictures of a remote area of Sri Lanka where the ratio of dead is the highest in the country.

Also ahead...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I landed on the roof of the mosque. I reached out and held on to a piece of wood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Swept away by a tsunami, a young woman who has lost her children befriends an injured and orphaned boy.

And this programming note. Tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern, an extended edition of "ANDERSON COOPER 360" for two hours. Anderson takes an in-depth look at the disaster and relief efforts with special focus on the orphans and children of the storm (ph).

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Based on these discussions, we've established a reasonable core group with India, Japan and Australia to help coordinate relief efforts. I'm confident more nations will join this core group in short order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: That was President Bush speaking today from his Crawford, Texas, ranch about the relief effort being mounted for the tsunami disaster, a disaster which he says has caused grief, quote, "beyond our comprehension." As the U.S. gears up to help, let's go live now to our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, for the latest -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jeanne, the Pentagon is dispatching troops and ships and planes to the region. But while it will take days to get there, U.S. officials are dismissing any idea that this aid is too little, too late.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): A U.S. C-130 cargo plane lands at the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, where Air Force personnel load it with critically needed supplies. While it was almost four days after the tsunami hit that the first of these supplies made it to Thailand, U.S. officials reject any suggestion they were slow to react.

ANDREW NATSIOS, USAID ADMINISTRATOR: The Pentagon was informed, they began planning on Sunday to do this. You don't just send people out in two hours. You begin mobilizing, you start the planning and you start sending. We did that on Sunday.

MCINTYRE: The U.S. has already begun setting up disaster relief headquarters at Thailand's Utapao naval air base. And U.S. assessment teams that have just arrived are fanning out to Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

LT. GEN. JAMES CONWAY, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Their task, of course, will be to make immediate assessment as to the nature and the scope of the impact of the disaster.

MCINTYRE: The U.S. is dispatching more than a dozen warships, equipped with medical facilities, rescue and earth-moving equipment and helicopters. But it will be days before they arrive. The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its four escort ships were the closest in Hong Kong. And assuming the Strait of Malacca is clear, could be off the coast of Sumatra by this weekend.

The amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard was in Guam between seven and 11 days away from its destination, Sri Lanka. It's seven- ship task force includes some 2,100 Marines who could be deployed if needed. The U.S. is also sending ships from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean which could arrive in four or five days with equipment capable of producing 90,000 gallons of fresh water a day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: And Jeanne, while it may seem like the aid is slow in coming, the Pentagon says that while it's important to get critical supplies there quickly, often the most valuable aid is the long-term reconstruction, that's where countries often have the hardest time maintaining momentum in helping people -- Jeanne.

MESERVE: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thank you.

Many of the areas hardest-hit by the Tsunamis have large Muslim populations, and some say the U.S. response could play a critical role in America's post-9/11 effort to win more friends in the Islamic world. Our Brian Todd has been looking into that -- Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Jeanne, believe it or not, there are tactical concerns at play here, because an important consideration in the aftermath of this disaster is who the victims are, where they are, and where their sympathies might lie in the months and years to come.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): Villages destroyed, victims in need, a massive void, huge opportunities. One of the worst natural disasters of our time is also a key battleground for hearts and minds in the war on terror.

KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTEL ANALYST: Here's an opportunity where the largest population of Muslims on Earth is in great need, and the United States should step up and lead.

TODD: Indonesia, the country with the world's largest Muslim population, its province of Aceh, a scene of death and displacement on a colossal scale. Aceh is also where Muslim separatist groups have battled Indonesian government forces for years. Here and in other South Asian countries hit hard by the tsunamis, insurgent groups, some affiliated with al Qaeda, have networks in place to provide aid and comfort to victims, often where the central government cannot. They also have, according to terrorism experts, motivation.

ROBINSON: The first thing they do is they reach out and they recruit everyone who survived: the children who no longer have parents; young people who no longer have a job. And they create a wedge that we will have to then fight that wedge of the next generation.

TODD: That's a next generation of potential terrorists, according to experts we spoke to, including two former U.S. intelligence and counterterror officials. They believe the U.S. faces a huge perception problem now on the ground in South Asia, a perception that America was slow to send aid and not generous enough; a perception of indifference bolstered when the American president took four days just to comment in public on this disaster; perceptions U.S. officials are battling.

RICHARD BOUCHER, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: There are airplanes flying with relief supplies. There are airplanes flying to do the reconnaissance. There is rice being delivered. There is water being delivered. There are ships under steam and there are people on the ground.

TODD: But accurate or not, terrorism experts say those perceptions work against the U.S. and its allies in this region. And to combat it, America has to mobilize aid, as one said, like a Marshall Plan, even to the point of sending copies of the Quran.

Others believe that still may not be enough.

JAMES ZOGBY, ARAB-AMERICAN INSTITUTE: But if we expect credit or expect that this somehow is responsive to the anger of those who have become alienated from the United States, it's not.

TODD: Still, experts say hearts and minds are worth fighting for in this region, the scene of the Bali discotheque bombing and key meetings of September 11th plotters.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Another perception problem, according to James Zogby of the Arab-American Institute, he says many American Muslims want to send aid and money, but because the U.S. government has cracked down on several prominent Muslim charities in this country for alleged links to terrorism, many Muslims here feel their best avenues to give are cut off and they're disinclined to contribute anywhere else -- Jeanne.

MESERVE: Brian, a lot to think about there. Thank you.

To our viewers, here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our Web question of the day is this: Have you donated money for the tsunami relief efforts? You can vote right now at cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results later in this broadcast.

Living among the dead, traumatized survivors rummaging through the ruins and searching for survivors in a city that is virtually lost.

Irresistible force, why it was so hard to withstand the power of the tsunami waves.

And the face that has become a symbol of the children missing, a new twist in the story of this lost toddler.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MESERVE: This just in to CNN, the U.S. Geological Survey, which monitors seismic activity around the world, reports that a magnitude 5.7 aftershock has been felt in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Aftershocks from the huge quake have mostly been centered around a pair of small chains of islands controlled by India. Relief officials say reports are just beginning to filter in from the remote islands, and the devastation is even worse than feared.

Martin Geissler filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN GEISSLER, ITV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Set aside from the outside world by geography and choice, the Andaman and Nicobar islanders have resisted change for centuries. No life here will ever be the same again. Whole communities have been washed away.

This is Car Nicobar, it's almost impossible for foreigners to get here. Islands like this are so remote it has been difficult to fully assess the damage until now, but today the governor of this territory told me just how serious the situation is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nicobar, total (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is 20,000, half of them are missing.

GEISSLER (on camera): These islands are so close to the earthquake's epicenter, that even if there had been an warning system it would make no difference. The waves hit here within minutes. The islands themselves are scattered over a thousand kilometers. And that geography is proving a real problem to the relief effort.

Several islands remain completely cut off. No contact has been made with them. And officials here concede they have no idea what has become of the thousands of people who live on them.

(voice-over): For those who have been rescued, a refugee center has been set up in Port Blair, the tiny capital of these islands; 1,500 were there when we visited with more arriving all the time. Relatives search desperately for the name of a loved one on the admissions board.

It's safer for them to camp outside here. Significant tremors are still being felt every day. The people cling to what little they have left. Many have nothing.

(on camera): What has happened to the island?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The island is totally destroyed, washed.

GEISSLER: They don't know what to do now. Everything is gone. This refuge may only be open for a few more days, but most have no homes to go back to. And these are the lucky ones.

Martin Geissler, ITV News, in Port Blair on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: And we're joined now by Ronen Sen, the Indian ambassador to the United States.

Thank you so much for joining us, Mr. Ambassador.

RONEN SEN, INDIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: Thanks for having me.

MESERVE: First of all, what is the current assessment of your government on the number of deaths?

SEN: Well, we so far have confirmed the death of 7,100 persons, that's the latest. But we have more than 5,000 unaccounted for, missing. And the death toll, I'm afraid, will rise because time is passing.

MESERVE: And the conditions that the survivors are dealing with?

SEN: We are dealing with them. We have mobilized all our resources. And we're not only providing them with the immediate relief that's in terms of drinking water, food, minimal -- some shelter, medical attention. But it's -- but we are looking at long rehabilitation work -- long-term rehabilitation work. But the immediate task is still search and rescue and immediate assistance to save lives and particularly, we have so many children affected. And so we have to get -- we are getting medical treatment across to them.

MESERVE: One of the great concerns has been disease. Have any outbreaks been reported yet in India?

SEN: Not as yet, fortunately, because we're wear of this factor. That's why I stress right in the beginning, you know, drinking water. Because that's -- a major problem could arise from water-borne diseases. In fact, they could spread very rapidly. And that has been our primary concern.

You talked about India's own relief efforts. But of course this great international outpouring of aid has begun. What's your assessment of it? Has it been quick enough? Is there enough coming to your country?

SEN: Well, I'll tell you, as far as we're concerned, honestly, and I can tell you in a straightforward manner, we have not asked for any international aid. And I don't think we require any international aid. Our past experience shows we've had terrible earthquakes, cyclones, that all, apart from a minuscule amount of the actual work relief and rehabilitation, has been done with Indian expertise and Indian resources.

But what I'd like to mention is that we have offered not only our sense of solidarity and sympathy with our neighbors, but we have mounted a massive assistance program. And this is within hours. That's on the same day. On Sunday, the 26th -- that's December 26th, within hours, we are -- ship (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Sri Lanka.

We have deployed four naval ships, numerous helicopters, fixed wing aircraft. We have right now more than 800 doctors, medical personnel, relief workers, armed forces, personnel working right around the clock in camps, in remote areas, in Sri Lanka. And we are doing the same in Maldives.

And quite apart from all of this massive kind of thing, in Maldives, we sent three naval ships. We're clearing the harbors, the ports, because that's very critical that we have sent hydrographic survey ships so they can clear the ports because unless you clear the ports, that's going to be the lifeline of support. So we're doing all of that. And this will be going right around the clock from the day the disaster occurred. And I can tell you in a straightforward way that we are not only the first to arrive there, but we are by far the biggest presence in those countries.

MESERVE: Mr. Ambassador, thank you so much for joining us today. And condolences to your country and to your people.

SEN: I appreciate that, thank you.

MESERVE: Devastation viewed from above, we'll take a helicopter tour of one of the hardest-hit areas.

In the hospital all alone, a child who has lost his entire family is taken in by a stranger.

Also, stranded on a tree top for more than two days, a 4-year-old Thai boy's story of survival.

And amazing pictures of flooding from the United States as a powerful storm pounds the West Coast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MESERVE: Welcome back.

Traumatized survivors now surrounded by the smell of death. We'll take you to a city where neighborhoods are completely flattened. But, first, a quick check of other stories now in the news.

At least 28 people, including Iraqi police, died when a booby- trapped house in Baghdad was leveled by an explosion. The police were reportedly lured into the building by an anonymous phone call. Meanwhile, Iraqi officials are reporting that a key leader of a Mosul- based militant group has been captured.

Saudi Arabian police say several people were wounded by a car bomb near the country's Interior Ministry in Riyadh. A second explosion occurred just minutes later on the Eastern edge of the city. No word yet on casualties in that blast.

A powerful storm is wreaking havoc in parts of the West. Authorities in Sedona, Arizona, are urging hundreds of residents to evacuate due to flooding. Heavy rains and snow have caused several major highways to be closed in Arizona and California. And flood warnings are also in effect in parts of Nevada and Utah. At least three deaths are being linked to that storm. Actor Jerry Orbach died of prostate cancer last night. He was a longtime star of the crime drama "Law & Order." His resume included a long list of film and stage roles. And he won a Tony Award for his performance in the 1968 play "Promises." Orbach was 69 years old.

The scale of the catastrophe in Indonesia is still not clear. We do know that it's the hardest-hit nation and officials say the death toll has risen to more than 45,000. But the United Nations fears that, in parts of Indonesia's Aceh Province, one of every four people may be dead.

CNN's Mike Chinoy is what used to be thriving provincial capital of Banda Aceh, now a city in ruins.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Until Sunday morning, this was the bustling port of Banda Aceh. Now it's a mass of twisted rubble, boats tossed on to rooftops by the force of the tsunami, neighborhoods flattened as far as the eyes can see. Traumatized survivors wander amidst the ruins, some hoping to salvage a few possessions, others still looking for their friends and family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But my friend here, dead. I don't have found no body. I am searching, but nothing less.

CHINOY: Twenty-seven-year-old Eddie (ph) was a fisherman. His five brothers and sisters are missing. "My boat is somewhere out there," he says. "I don't know where my family is."

In this shattered city, the living coexist uneasily with the dead. These bodies have been rotting in the heat for days. They're simply aren't enough emergency workers to remove them.

(on camera): What's so terrible is that this is not unusual. There are corpses on so many streets here, mute testimony to a disaster that almost defies comprehension.

(voice-over): That helps explain the dazed looks on so many faces, the blank stares, the people stumbling, aimlessly, it seems, in what's left of their city, living a nightmare with no end in sight.

Mike Chinoy, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: The devastation in Aceh has taken a tremendous human toll.

CNN's Atika Shubert visited a local hospital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice-over): These are the lucky ones. Udah (ph) is 8 years old. He was playing outside his house when a tsunami wave swallowed him whole. He does not remember how he got to this hospital. The only people he speaks to are Suryati and Mardiana (ph), two sisters swept by the tsunami waves. They have lost their children and 13 members of their family.

The water was black, Suryati tells us. I swallowed so much water as it carried me out of the village turning me over and over. I landed on the roof of the mosque. I reached out and held on to a piece of wood with all my strength. That's what saved me."

They found Udah weeping near the hospital morgue. We tried to help him and get a doctor to look at his eye, Mardiana says. His parents, his whole family are gone. In the midst of this devastation they have become a family.

(on camera): We came to this hospital to talk to victims like Udah, but within minutes we were surrounded by other victims, people looking for their missing family members, all with their own horrific stories; every one of them asking why the world has not responded faster to this horrific disaster in Aceh.

(voice-over): Everyone in this hospital has lost at least one family member. They tell stories of entire villages wiped out, bodies as far as they can see. This man cries to us, Please tell the world. Where is America? Please help to round up the bodies. There is no one left to save. Just help us bury the dead.

This hospital has virtually no doctors or staff, either killed or searching for their own missing families. This Malaysian volunteer was the first doctor we saw, he has covered major earthquakes before. This he says is the worst he's seen.

DR. QUAH, PHYSICIAN: They have got no water. Sanitation is zero. The commodes are overflowing. There is no access to clean water right now. People are sleeping on the streets. There's no food. Most of the people over here, they have not eaten in about three days.

SHUBERT: Mercy Malaysia was the first international aid agency in Aceh, more help is needed.

QUAH: I don't think anyone expected anything like this. No one expected it, it happened so fast.

SHUBERT: Until more help arrives, Mardiana, Suryati and Udah are doing the best they can, if only to comfort each other.

Atika Shubert, CNN, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: The tsunamis inflicted terrible damage on Sri Lanka's East Coast. Now pictures are starting to emerge.

CNN's Hugh Riminton reports from Sri Lanka on the damage and the recovery effort.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are among the first pictures to emerge from the remote east coast of Sri Lanka, where the ratio of the dead to the living is feared to be the highest in the country.

This low-lying coastline faced directly into Sunday's tsunamis. Huge areas have been cut off. Now on a flight with the Sri Lankan military, it seems a place eerily empty of people.

Arugam Bay in Ampara District has long been famous among international surfers, but these waves bent the ceiling fans in few buildings that remain. No one emerges from these shattered villages to greet the helicopter. From the air, an adult and child is spotted walking alone on a flattened landscape.

The air force is moving now from search-and-rescue work to a frantic relief effort for the survivors. A medical team also readies itself to fly in. It has heard of a single doctor still working to help 4,000 casualties in a hospital that's been partly destroyed. Two other hospitals in Ampara District alone have been washed away.

As night falls, the capital the mobilizes itself. Volunteers, some in uniform, some of them tourists, load trucks with whatever help is at end.

CAPT. SARATH DISSANAYAKE, SRI LANKAN NAVY: We are working throughout 24 hours. These items are going to the most affected areas in Sri Lanka mostly.

RIMINTON (on camera): The immediate relief effort is still overwhelmingly local, rather than international. Ordinary Sri Lankans in the thousands have been donating food items, bags of -- cans of food, rice, water, things that they know that ordinary families like themselves will be needing at this time just to get through another day.

(voice-over): But more international help may also be on its way.

HEINKE VEIT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: We can make available another 30 million euros within the next days. And we're absolutely willing to do that if the needs are there.

RIMINTON: It would be hard to argue that it is not.

Hugh Riminton, CNN, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: The force of nature. A closer look at these frightening images reveals what makes water so powerful.

Lessons learned, how the aid used in past disasters is guiding what is now the biggest relief effort in history. Plus, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ADAM FORBES, VACATIONED IN THAILAND: We had hills. So, we ran up, and the water -- came past the water, but once it got to the mountains, it stopped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Shaken survivors tell their stories of why they believe they made it home alive.

And this programming note. Tonight, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, an extended edition of "ANDERSON COOPER 360." Anderson takes an in-depth look at the disaster and relief efforts, with special focus on the orphans and children of the storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MESERVE: We're going to take a closer look at some of the most horrific images of a tsunami. And we're looking at them with one question in mind. What makes water such a powerful force?

CNN's Michael Schulder begins with a point of comparison.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL SCHULDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the force of wind at nearly 100 miles an hour. Powerful, yes, but not necessarily enough to lift a man off his feet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's just no way to get out of it now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. This is a tidal wave.

SCHULDER: This is the force of water at just a small fraction of that speed. Water is a far more powerful force than wind and far more destructive.

The video that's coming from across South Asia in the past few hours and days shows us tsunamis can look deceptively unthreatening as they hit the shore, but it's telling us something else. For example, this wave seems to come ashore gradually without a lot of force, but it just keeps coming. And it's in the sheer volume of water where the destructive power lies.

These shots from the Indonesia island of Banda Aceh show how a tsunami can mimic the rapids of a river. But, again, it's not the speed that kills. It's the relentlessness. As a swift water rescue worker told us, moving water exerts a constant force on your body, never relaxing, eventually overtaking you.

This video illustrates how the wave's destructive power is increased by one of the things we love most about the water, its buoyancy. It allows us to float, but in this quantity, it picks almost everything that's not bolted down. It's one thing to swim for your live in rough seas. It's another to swim for your life among tons of debris, as Dr. Peter Heydemann somehow managed to do. DR. PETER HEYDEMANN, SURVIVED TSUNAMI: I was probably in the water about 40 minutes. The water was very dangerous. Parts of the buildings were in the water. And there were all these boards that made up the buildings, and the boards had big nails sticking out of them, so that any wave or disturbance in the water could have easily sent one of those boards with me.

SCHULDER: In some ways, the view from space best illustrates the power of the tsunami. This is the coast of Sri Lanka before the waves hit. This is after. The large cloudy whirlpool hints at a force that may have been even more devastating than the tsunami coming ashore, it being sucked back to the ocean.

Michael Schulder, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: One of the many terrifying images in that report was the elderly couple that was swept away by the rushing water in front of their hotel. CNN spoke to the tourist from Sweden who shot some of the video. He tells us the man was found bruised, but alive. It is not clear what happened to the woman.

More than $250 million in aid has been pledged to help the victims of the disaster, and relief agencies say it's shaping up to be the largest humanitarian effort in history.

Zain Verjee joins us with more on getting help to those who need it -- Zain.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jeanne, how do aid groups handle such a massive relief effort? Experiences with past disasters may offer ideas for today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE (voice-over): From Sumatra to Sri Lanka to Somalia, the sheer geographical scale of the tsunami disaster will be a huge test for the international aid effort.

DOUGLAS ALLEN, AMERICAN RED CROSS: It's complicated for the American Red Cross in particular because of the time zones and the distance.

VERJEE: Past relief efforts have been manageable because they've been more concentrated, like in Bam, Iran, in 2003. An ancient city made of mud brick collapsed after a quake, killing over 40,000.

A quake in India's Gujarat state in 2001, nearly 19,000 died. A cyclone tour through Bangladesh in 1991. Nearly 131,000 lost their lives. As relief groups and government gear up for what the U.N. and aid groups say is the biggest aid effort in history...

ALLEN: Of the 126 disasters that I've personally been involved in, this is setting up to be the most complicated.

VERJEE: A look at past disaster relief efforts could be helpful, what worked and what didn't.

THOMAS TIGHE, PRESIDENT & CEO, DIRECT RELIEF INTERNATIONAL: If things are available in a region, it's better to have them come not from here, but from India, if they can access their resources from there. So, we are trying very carefully to make sure we proceed fast, but also to do it right and not just fast.

VERJEE: And what about managing money? USAID chief Andrew Natsios says some money is given immediately, with a full assessment made before all money to fund relief projects is sent in.

NATSIOS: We've had a lot of disasters over the years where you send money to the wrong country in the wrong amount and another country that needs more help doesn't get it.

VERJEE: Disaster relief experts also warn of past experiences where well-intentioned aid comes in, but is ultimately wasted.

MARK KEIN, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: In some cases, you will see inappropriate donations.

VERJEE: In past disasters, ranging from high-heeled shoes to fur coats, outdated and unusable drugs, to anti-smoking inhalers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: The American Red Cross says almost 100 times, at 100, the greatest need in disaster situations like this is portable water -- Jeanne.

MESERVE: Zain, thank you very much.

Back in the safety of his father's arms, a bittersweet reunion for one young boy lost in the tsunami.

Plus, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM WHITLEY, VACATIONED IN PHUKET: I was lucky. I was still in the hotel. I hadn't gone out to the beach yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: The lucky ones. Survivors reflect on what could have been and why they lived.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MESERVE: Yesterday, we told you about a Swedish toddler who turned up in the wake of the tsunami disaster scratched and alone. Today, a reassuring picture; 1 1/2-year-old Hannes Bergstrom reunited with his father. Both father and son are being treated at a Thai hospital. These tears of joy are mixed with tears of anxiety. The boy's mother is still missing. Another reunion. This 4-year-old Thai boy stranded on top of a tree more than two days has been reunited with his father, who was stranded himself. The boy's father was in a boat when the tsunami struck and floated offshore for several hours before he was found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUTHIPONG PHA-OPAS, FATHER (through translator): I was frightened. I did not think I would survive. The rescue team found my son in the mangrove, not me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Some of the Americans who survived the tsunamis are back in the states now.

Our Mary Snow has been listening to their stories -- Mary.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jeanne, these are stories of those who skirted disaster, whether it be a last-minute change of plans in their travel schedule or just being in the right place at the right time. These travelers who flew in to JFK Airport here in New York consider themselves the lucky ones.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEN ROSEN, VACATIONED IN THAILAND: I left the night before. I'm very lucky. I count my blessings.

SNOW (voice-over): For Ken Rosen, his blessing was timing. He was on Phi Phi Island and witnessed the devastation on TV in Bangkok the next day.

ROSEN: I was on a motorcycle on Patong Beach going to the airport that night and looking over the ocean, and it was just beautiful. And then the next day, I came back from weekend market in Bangkok and saw the news and knew that all hell had broken lose.

SNOW: For Stephanie Walker, it was a change of plans that kept her out of harm's way. She supposed to travel to Sumatra, but decided to stay in Bangkok.

STEPHANIE WALKER, CHANGED TRAVEL PLANS: I was told to go to the island to visit because it was so beautiful. I was told that about Thursday. And then, a few days later, we woke up to the news that there had been an earthquake.

SNOW: Jim Whitley felt the earthquake while getting his morning coffee at Starbucks in Phuket. He says he was in his hotel two hours later when the tsunami hit.

WHITLEY: I was lucky. I was still in the hotel. I hadn't gone out to the beach yet.

SNOW: In the area where of Phuket where Whitley was, he says the death toll reached 300 people within two hours. He was on the second floor of his hotel.

WHITLEY: About six foot of water just filled the lobby within seconds.

SNOW: Adam Forbes took the high ground on an island two hours from Phuket.

FORBES: We had hills. So, we ran up, and the water -- came past the water, but once it got to the mountains, it stopped, whereas other islands were just flat, so it just took out everything.

SNOW: Before the tsunami, Forbes was moments away from leaving the island on a boat.

FORBES: No one died right where I was, but in the town, five minutes away, where I was headed, 40 people on the pier died.

SNOW: These travelers share in common their relief, but they're also shaken by what might have been.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: And these travelers we spoke with consider it a bittersweet moment when they arrived back in the U.S. They're happy to be here, but they feel badly that they couldn't help out the people they left behind -- Jeanne.

MESERVE: Mary Snow, thank you.

More powerful images of the tsunami through the eyes of photographers next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MESERVE: Here's how you're weighing in on our Web question of the day: Have you donated money for the tsunami relief efforts? Fifteen percent of you say yes; 85 percent of you say no. This not is a scientific poll.

Once again today, we end this hour with a look at some of the enduring images of the tsunami disaster captured in photographs.

Stay with CNN for continuing live coverage of the tsunami aftermath.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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


Aired December 29, 2004 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, catastrophic loss. It's worse than we first pictured. The number of dead from the tsunami could now surpass 100,000. Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): Moment of impact. New pictures from a shattered city. Now, too many bodies to bury.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The truth be, some of the faces -- every (UNINTELLIGIBLE) may be dead the tsunami.

MESERVE: Millions grow desperate for clean water, food and shelter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Health officials are getting very concerned. They're fearing the outbreak of an epidemic that could kill thousands more.

MESERVE: Can America make a difference?

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're a very generous, kind-hearted nation.

MESERVE: President Bush says the U.S. relief effort is just beginning. Critics say may it already be too little, too late.

Starting over, they've lost their children. He's lost his entire family. Together, they're becoming a new family.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Wednesday, December 29th, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: Thanks for joining us. I'm Jeanne Meserve in for Wolf Blitzer. Days after tsunamis slammed the shore, the bodies are still piling up, but the living need urgent care. In India, mass funeral pyres. Officials fear the losses on remote islands are far worse than first believed. We'll speak with India's ambassador to United States.

Hardest hit was Indonesia, where a provincial capital was reduced to rubble, its population decimated. We'll see the destruction in Banda Aceh. The impact in outlying areas we can only image.

Can aid reach the survivors in time? As the first frantic relief efforts are launched, the U.S. gears up for a massive operation.

Every day, sometimes twice a day, the death toll has seemingly been doubling. It now stands at more than 80,000, according to officials in the stricken countries. Relief groups say the count could climb to more than 100,000. Indonesia's health ministry reports more than 45,000 dead with many more still accounted for. Sri Lankan authorities have raised their death toll to more than 23,000. Thousands remain missing there.

A United Nations official says that in parts of Indonesia's Aceh province, one out of every four people may be dead. The provincial capital took the brunt of it, as astonishing new pictures show. Dan Rivers reports from the shattered city of Banda Aceh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, ITV REPORTER: This was the moment of impact in Banda Aceh. This staggering footage taken by a family on a second-floor apartment as the sea swallowed their town. Terrified, the family think they will surely die. Somehow, they escaped.

Four days on, this is the scene in the port area, perhaps one of the most devastated sectors of this crippled town. We picked our way through with our guide. Missing persons posters turned to uptown trollers. It was surreal, obscene. Stranded boats, the twisted wreckage of a once thriving fishing community.

In the town center, corpses are being pulled by the hundreds from the ruins in Banda Aceh. There is a nauseating stench everywhere, death and decay at every turn. The army is throwing in troops, but they're facing apocalyptic destruction. In time, neighborhoods raised to the ground.

Like many, this man has lost everything. His home, his family.

(on camera): Nothing left?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have nothing left. My house is gone. Destroyed. Everything.

RIVERS: Destroyed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

If you want a graphic illustration of the sheer power of this tsunami, have a look at this. This trollo (ph) was smashed a mile and a half into the center of Banda Aceh. The locals say the tsunami was 60 feet high.

(voice-over): Those that survived are trying to clear the streets, but so far, there is apparently little outside help. Banda Aceh is now in acute crisis. They are desperate for basic supplies. The destruction is relentless, street after street utterly destroyed. Survivors, stupefied by this carnage. In some places, only dogs survived, waiting in vain for their owners. But out of town, the horror of all those deaths is concentrated at one place. Lorries streaming in, carrying body after body.

(on camera): I've seen some terrible, awful sights today. But this is by far the worst. They're burying bodies by lorrie load here, in mass graves. They estimate there will be tens of thousands of corpses here by the end of the week.

Dan Rivers, ITV News, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Every structure along Sri Lanka's southern coast was damaged or swept away by the killer wave. More than 20,000 are dead on the island nation. CNN's Satinder Bindra is with the survivors in Matara, in southern Sri Lanka.

Reporter: Help and relief at last for thousands who have lost everything. Their loved ones are dead. Their homes destroyed. And their belongings swept away. Now, they'll have to live on handouts for weeks and frightening memories for the refuse of their lives. My father was pushed by the water onto the street says this man. That was the last I saw of him. Now when he buries his father, he says millions of Sri Lankans feels the light has gone out of their lives. He shows me what remains of the restaurant that he built with his life savings.

I feel like I'm alone. I can't think of what I can do in the future.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Help and relief at last for thousands who've lost everything. Their loved ones are dead, their homes destroyed and their belongings swept away. Now they'll have to live on handouts for weeks and frightening memories for the rest of their lives.

"My father was pushed by the water onto the street," says survivor Unhra Opradaki (ph). "That was the last I saw of him." Now as he buries his father, Unhra Opradaki says millions of Sri Lankans feel the light has gone out of their lives.

Gamani Sumit Naniakar (ph) shows me what remains of the restaurant he built with his life savings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like I am alone. I have -- I can't think of what I can do in the future.

BINDRA: Others feel it's time to try to shake loose their shock. They employ local ingenuity to pull their valued possessions from under tons of debris. What lingers on here is an intense and overpowering smell.

(on camera): Decomposed bodies are still being found everywhere. And health officials are getting very concerned. They're fearing the outbreak of an epidemic that could kill thousands more. (voice-over): So far there are no reports of any major health problems in southern Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, hundreds continue scrambling for food and cookies. As he receives his tiny portion, this boy manages a smile. It's his way, perhaps, of saying thanks to all of those across the world who are trying to help Sri Lanka.

Satinder Bindra, CNN, Matara, southern Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: In the middle of the Indian Ocean, there's destruction and devastation on remote areas belonging to India. CNN's Suhasini Haidar reports from the Nicobar Islands.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUHASINI HAIDAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Days after the tsunami struck, Indian officials are still discovering the full extent of the damage and the number of people killed in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of the Indian Ocean. Here in the island of Car Nicobar, one of the worst affected, the devastation is complete, and hundreds of survivors are now queuing up to get on evacuating planes out of here, people telling horrifying stories of how they lost their loved ones, their homes, and walked miles and miles through forest for days without food.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There are entire families which have been wiped away. Children have been separated from their parents. There are dead bodies all over. We are more worried about the people who are in the forests and are injured, as relief hasn't reached them. I hope the government can do something for them.

HAIDAR: Now the jetties around the islands have been destroyed, as well, so they only way of bringing relief in is to fly to them. Officials telling us their pilots are working around the clock, each plane bringing in with it food, water and medicine, and taking out as many survivors as they can.

Suhasini Haidar, CNN, Car Nicobar, in the Indian Ocean.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: More aftershocks from the major earthquake that caused the tsunamis are being felt around the region. The U.S. Geological Survey, which monitors seismic activity around the world, reports that a magnitude 6.1 aftershock was recorded early today. It was followed, about four hours later, by a 6.2 aftershock. The epicenters of both aftershocks was reportedly below the Nicobar Islands, some 900 miles off the coast of India.

The killer waves did not discriminate. In Thailand, more than 1,800 deaths have been reported there, many of them tourists. There are still many missing. CNN's Matthew Chance went to a makeshift morgue on the coast of Phuket. We must warn you that some of the images are graphic. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Beneath this smashed concrete, a whole family is trapped. But this is no search for survivors, just more bodies for Thailand to count. This is where the awesome power of the tsunami struck this country hardest. In the mud, reminders of the many lives lived and lost here. Rescue workers told us only half the dead have yet been recovered. The final horrific cost of this disaster still in doubt.

"When we first arrived, it was total destruction," he says. "There were bodies all over the place. We've cleared it up a lot. I believe there are many more beneath this rubble."

And for days, makeshift morgues, like this one, the grounds of a Buddhist temple, have filled with the remains of Thais and tourists alike. Forensic teams are helping with identification, but in a few days, they say, mass cremations will have to begin.

(on camera): This is a scene of the most gruesome kind. The bodies have been laid out in the hundreds here. And they're now being sprayed with disinfectant, laid out so that their families, their loved ones, survivors can try and identify them. But these are appalling conditions. It's hot and humid and the stench is overwhelming.

(voice-over): And so is the grief. The days here are now filled with hurried funerals. This family told me of their terrible loss, seven dead, ages 79 to just 6.

"We don't know what to do," says Layat (ph), the grandmother. We've gone crazy. I don't think I can survive all alone, she says. No comfort. Her loneliness will be shared by so many.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Panang (ph), Thailand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: American aid on the way but some critics say the relief efforts are too little, too late. The battle for hearts and minds, could the destruction caused by the tsunamis lead to an increase in global terrorism?

Eerily empty, the first pictures of a remote area of Sri Lanka where the ratio of dead is the highest in the country.

Also ahead...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I landed on the roof of the mosque. I reached out and held on to a piece of wood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Swept away by a tsunami, a young woman who has lost her children befriends an injured and orphaned boy.

And this programming note. Tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern, an extended edition of "ANDERSON COOPER 360" for two hours. Anderson takes an in-depth look at the disaster and relief efforts with special focus on the orphans and children of the storm (ph).

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Based on these discussions, we've established a reasonable core group with India, Japan and Australia to help coordinate relief efforts. I'm confident more nations will join this core group in short order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: That was President Bush speaking today from his Crawford, Texas, ranch about the relief effort being mounted for the tsunami disaster, a disaster which he says has caused grief, quote, "beyond our comprehension." As the U.S. gears up to help, let's go live now to our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, for the latest -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jeanne, the Pentagon is dispatching troops and ships and planes to the region. But while it will take days to get there, U.S. officials are dismissing any idea that this aid is too little, too late.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): A U.S. C-130 cargo plane lands at the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, where Air Force personnel load it with critically needed supplies. While it was almost four days after the tsunami hit that the first of these supplies made it to Thailand, U.S. officials reject any suggestion they were slow to react.

ANDREW NATSIOS, USAID ADMINISTRATOR: The Pentagon was informed, they began planning on Sunday to do this. You don't just send people out in two hours. You begin mobilizing, you start the planning and you start sending. We did that on Sunday.

MCINTYRE: The U.S. has already begun setting up disaster relief headquarters at Thailand's Utapao naval air base. And U.S. assessment teams that have just arrived are fanning out to Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

LT. GEN. JAMES CONWAY, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Their task, of course, will be to make immediate assessment as to the nature and the scope of the impact of the disaster.

MCINTYRE: The U.S. is dispatching more than a dozen warships, equipped with medical facilities, rescue and earth-moving equipment and helicopters. But it will be days before they arrive. The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its four escort ships were the closest in Hong Kong. And assuming the Strait of Malacca is clear, could be off the coast of Sumatra by this weekend.

The amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard was in Guam between seven and 11 days away from its destination, Sri Lanka. It's seven- ship task force includes some 2,100 Marines who could be deployed if needed. The U.S. is also sending ships from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean which could arrive in four or five days with equipment capable of producing 90,000 gallons of fresh water a day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: And Jeanne, while it may seem like the aid is slow in coming, the Pentagon says that while it's important to get critical supplies there quickly, often the most valuable aid is the long-term reconstruction, that's where countries often have the hardest time maintaining momentum in helping people -- Jeanne.

MESERVE: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thank you.

Many of the areas hardest-hit by the Tsunamis have large Muslim populations, and some say the U.S. response could play a critical role in America's post-9/11 effort to win more friends in the Islamic world. Our Brian Todd has been looking into that -- Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Jeanne, believe it or not, there are tactical concerns at play here, because an important consideration in the aftermath of this disaster is who the victims are, where they are, and where their sympathies might lie in the months and years to come.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): Villages destroyed, victims in need, a massive void, huge opportunities. One of the worst natural disasters of our time is also a key battleground for hearts and minds in the war on terror.

KEN ROBINSON, CNN MILITARY INTEL ANALYST: Here's an opportunity where the largest population of Muslims on Earth is in great need, and the United States should step up and lead.

TODD: Indonesia, the country with the world's largest Muslim population, its province of Aceh, a scene of death and displacement on a colossal scale. Aceh is also where Muslim separatist groups have battled Indonesian government forces for years. Here and in other South Asian countries hit hard by the tsunamis, insurgent groups, some affiliated with al Qaeda, have networks in place to provide aid and comfort to victims, often where the central government cannot. They also have, according to terrorism experts, motivation.

ROBINSON: The first thing they do is they reach out and they recruit everyone who survived: the children who no longer have parents; young people who no longer have a job. And they create a wedge that we will have to then fight that wedge of the next generation.

TODD: That's a next generation of potential terrorists, according to experts we spoke to, including two former U.S. intelligence and counterterror officials. They believe the U.S. faces a huge perception problem now on the ground in South Asia, a perception that America was slow to send aid and not generous enough; a perception of indifference bolstered when the American president took four days just to comment in public on this disaster; perceptions U.S. officials are battling.

RICHARD BOUCHER, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: There are airplanes flying with relief supplies. There are airplanes flying to do the reconnaissance. There is rice being delivered. There is water being delivered. There are ships under steam and there are people on the ground.

TODD: But accurate or not, terrorism experts say those perceptions work against the U.S. and its allies in this region. And to combat it, America has to mobilize aid, as one said, like a Marshall Plan, even to the point of sending copies of the Quran.

Others believe that still may not be enough.

JAMES ZOGBY, ARAB-AMERICAN INSTITUTE: But if we expect credit or expect that this somehow is responsive to the anger of those who have become alienated from the United States, it's not.

TODD: Still, experts say hearts and minds are worth fighting for in this region, the scene of the Bali discotheque bombing and key meetings of September 11th plotters.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Another perception problem, according to James Zogby of the Arab-American Institute, he says many American Muslims want to send aid and money, but because the U.S. government has cracked down on several prominent Muslim charities in this country for alleged links to terrorism, many Muslims here feel their best avenues to give are cut off and they're disinclined to contribute anywhere else -- Jeanne.

MESERVE: Brian, a lot to think about there. Thank you.

To our viewers, here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our Web question of the day is this: Have you donated money for the tsunami relief efforts? You can vote right now at cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results later in this broadcast.

Living among the dead, traumatized survivors rummaging through the ruins and searching for survivors in a city that is virtually lost.

Irresistible force, why it was so hard to withstand the power of the tsunami waves.

And the face that has become a symbol of the children missing, a new twist in the story of this lost toddler.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MESERVE: This just in to CNN, the U.S. Geological Survey, which monitors seismic activity around the world, reports that a magnitude 5.7 aftershock has been felt in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Aftershocks from the huge quake have mostly been centered around a pair of small chains of islands controlled by India. Relief officials say reports are just beginning to filter in from the remote islands, and the devastation is even worse than feared.

Martin Geissler filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN GEISSLER, ITV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Set aside from the outside world by geography and choice, the Andaman and Nicobar islanders have resisted change for centuries. No life here will ever be the same again. Whole communities have been washed away.

This is Car Nicobar, it's almost impossible for foreigners to get here. Islands like this are so remote it has been difficult to fully assess the damage until now, but today the governor of this territory told me just how serious the situation is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nicobar, total (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is 20,000, half of them are missing.

GEISSLER (on camera): These islands are so close to the earthquake's epicenter, that even if there had been an warning system it would make no difference. The waves hit here within minutes. The islands themselves are scattered over a thousand kilometers. And that geography is proving a real problem to the relief effort.

Several islands remain completely cut off. No contact has been made with them. And officials here concede they have no idea what has become of the thousands of people who live on them.

(voice-over): For those who have been rescued, a refugee center has been set up in Port Blair, the tiny capital of these islands; 1,500 were there when we visited with more arriving all the time. Relatives search desperately for the name of a loved one on the admissions board.

It's safer for them to camp outside here. Significant tremors are still being felt every day. The people cling to what little they have left. Many have nothing.

(on camera): What has happened to the island?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The island is totally destroyed, washed.

GEISSLER: They don't know what to do now. Everything is gone. This refuge may only be open for a few more days, but most have no homes to go back to. And these are the lucky ones.

Martin Geissler, ITV News, in Port Blair on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: And we're joined now by Ronen Sen, the Indian ambassador to the United States.

Thank you so much for joining us, Mr. Ambassador.

RONEN SEN, INDIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: Thanks for having me.

MESERVE: First of all, what is the current assessment of your government on the number of deaths?

SEN: Well, we so far have confirmed the death of 7,100 persons, that's the latest. But we have more than 5,000 unaccounted for, missing. And the death toll, I'm afraid, will rise because time is passing.

MESERVE: And the conditions that the survivors are dealing with?

SEN: We are dealing with them. We have mobilized all our resources. And we're not only providing them with the immediate relief that's in terms of drinking water, food, minimal -- some shelter, medical attention. But it's -- but we are looking at long rehabilitation work -- long-term rehabilitation work. But the immediate task is still search and rescue and immediate assistance to save lives and particularly, we have so many children affected. And so we have to get -- we are getting medical treatment across to them.

MESERVE: One of the great concerns has been disease. Have any outbreaks been reported yet in India?

SEN: Not as yet, fortunately, because we're wear of this factor. That's why I stress right in the beginning, you know, drinking water. Because that's -- a major problem could arise from water-borne diseases. In fact, they could spread very rapidly. And that has been our primary concern.

You talked about India's own relief efforts. But of course this great international outpouring of aid has begun. What's your assessment of it? Has it been quick enough? Is there enough coming to your country?

SEN: Well, I'll tell you, as far as we're concerned, honestly, and I can tell you in a straightforward manner, we have not asked for any international aid. And I don't think we require any international aid. Our past experience shows we've had terrible earthquakes, cyclones, that all, apart from a minuscule amount of the actual work relief and rehabilitation, has been done with Indian expertise and Indian resources.

But what I'd like to mention is that we have offered not only our sense of solidarity and sympathy with our neighbors, but we have mounted a massive assistance program. And this is within hours. That's on the same day. On Sunday, the 26th -- that's December 26th, within hours, we are -- ship (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Sri Lanka.

We have deployed four naval ships, numerous helicopters, fixed wing aircraft. We have right now more than 800 doctors, medical personnel, relief workers, armed forces, personnel working right around the clock in camps, in remote areas, in Sri Lanka. And we are doing the same in Maldives.

And quite apart from all of this massive kind of thing, in Maldives, we sent three naval ships. We're clearing the harbors, the ports, because that's very critical that we have sent hydrographic survey ships so they can clear the ports because unless you clear the ports, that's going to be the lifeline of support. So we're doing all of that. And this will be going right around the clock from the day the disaster occurred. And I can tell you in a straightforward way that we are not only the first to arrive there, but we are by far the biggest presence in those countries.

MESERVE: Mr. Ambassador, thank you so much for joining us today. And condolences to your country and to your people.

SEN: I appreciate that, thank you.

MESERVE: Devastation viewed from above, we'll take a helicopter tour of one of the hardest-hit areas.

In the hospital all alone, a child who has lost his entire family is taken in by a stranger.

Also, stranded on a tree top for more than two days, a 4-year-old Thai boy's story of survival.

And amazing pictures of flooding from the United States as a powerful storm pounds the West Coast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MESERVE: Welcome back.

Traumatized survivors now surrounded by the smell of death. We'll take you to a city where neighborhoods are completely flattened. But, first, a quick check of other stories now in the news.

At least 28 people, including Iraqi police, died when a booby- trapped house in Baghdad was leveled by an explosion. The police were reportedly lured into the building by an anonymous phone call. Meanwhile, Iraqi officials are reporting that a key leader of a Mosul- based militant group has been captured.

Saudi Arabian police say several people were wounded by a car bomb near the country's Interior Ministry in Riyadh. A second explosion occurred just minutes later on the Eastern edge of the city. No word yet on casualties in that blast.

A powerful storm is wreaking havoc in parts of the West. Authorities in Sedona, Arizona, are urging hundreds of residents to evacuate due to flooding. Heavy rains and snow have caused several major highways to be closed in Arizona and California. And flood warnings are also in effect in parts of Nevada and Utah. At least three deaths are being linked to that storm. Actor Jerry Orbach died of prostate cancer last night. He was a longtime star of the crime drama "Law & Order." His resume included a long list of film and stage roles. And he won a Tony Award for his performance in the 1968 play "Promises." Orbach was 69 years old.

The scale of the catastrophe in Indonesia is still not clear. We do know that it's the hardest-hit nation and officials say the death toll has risen to more than 45,000. But the United Nations fears that, in parts of Indonesia's Aceh Province, one of every four people may be dead.

CNN's Mike Chinoy is what used to be thriving provincial capital of Banda Aceh, now a city in ruins.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Until Sunday morning, this was the bustling port of Banda Aceh. Now it's a mass of twisted rubble, boats tossed on to rooftops by the force of the tsunami, neighborhoods flattened as far as the eyes can see. Traumatized survivors wander amidst the ruins, some hoping to salvage a few possessions, others still looking for their friends and family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But my friend here, dead. I don't have found no body. I am searching, but nothing less.

CHINOY: Twenty-seven-year-old Eddie (ph) was a fisherman. His five brothers and sisters are missing. "My boat is somewhere out there," he says. "I don't know where my family is."

In this shattered city, the living coexist uneasily with the dead. These bodies have been rotting in the heat for days. They're simply aren't enough emergency workers to remove them.

(on camera): What's so terrible is that this is not unusual. There are corpses on so many streets here, mute testimony to a disaster that almost defies comprehension.

(voice-over): That helps explain the dazed looks on so many faces, the blank stares, the people stumbling, aimlessly, it seems, in what's left of their city, living a nightmare with no end in sight.

Mike Chinoy, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: The devastation in Aceh has taken a tremendous human toll.

CNN's Atika Shubert visited a local hospital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice-over): These are the lucky ones. Udah (ph) is 8 years old. He was playing outside his house when a tsunami wave swallowed him whole. He does not remember how he got to this hospital. The only people he speaks to are Suryati and Mardiana (ph), two sisters swept by the tsunami waves. They have lost their children and 13 members of their family.

The water was black, Suryati tells us. I swallowed so much water as it carried me out of the village turning me over and over. I landed on the roof of the mosque. I reached out and held on to a piece of wood with all my strength. That's what saved me."

They found Udah weeping near the hospital morgue. We tried to help him and get a doctor to look at his eye, Mardiana says. His parents, his whole family are gone. In the midst of this devastation they have become a family.

(on camera): We came to this hospital to talk to victims like Udah, but within minutes we were surrounded by other victims, people looking for their missing family members, all with their own horrific stories; every one of them asking why the world has not responded faster to this horrific disaster in Aceh.

(voice-over): Everyone in this hospital has lost at least one family member. They tell stories of entire villages wiped out, bodies as far as they can see. This man cries to us, Please tell the world. Where is America? Please help to round up the bodies. There is no one left to save. Just help us bury the dead.

This hospital has virtually no doctors or staff, either killed or searching for their own missing families. This Malaysian volunteer was the first doctor we saw, he has covered major earthquakes before. This he says is the worst he's seen.

DR. QUAH, PHYSICIAN: They have got no water. Sanitation is zero. The commodes are overflowing. There is no access to clean water right now. People are sleeping on the streets. There's no food. Most of the people over here, they have not eaten in about three days.

SHUBERT: Mercy Malaysia was the first international aid agency in Aceh, more help is needed.

QUAH: I don't think anyone expected anything like this. No one expected it, it happened so fast.

SHUBERT: Until more help arrives, Mardiana, Suryati and Udah are doing the best they can, if only to comfort each other.

Atika Shubert, CNN, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: The tsunamis inflicted terrible damage on Sri Lanka's East Coast. Now pictures are starting to emerge.

CNN's Hugh Riminton reports from Sri Lanka on the damage and the recovery effort.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are among the first pictures to emerge from the remote east coast of Sri Lanka, where the ratio of the dead to the living is feared to be the highest in the country.

This low-lying coastline faced directly into Sunday's tsunamis. Huge areas have been cut off. Now on a flight with the Sri Lankan military, it seems a place eerily empty of people.

Arugam Bay in Ampara District has long been famous among international surfers, but these waves bent the ceiling fans in few buildings that remain. No one emerges from these shattered villages to greet the helicopter. From the air, an adult and child is spotted walking alone on a flattened landscape.

The air force is moving now from search-and-rescue work to a frantic relief effort for the survivors. A medical team also readies itself to fly in. It has heard of a single doctor still working to help 4,000 casualties in a hospital that's been partly destroyed. Two other hospitals in Ampara District alone have been washed away.

As night falls, the capital the mobilizes itself. Volunteers, some in uniform, some of them tourists, load trucks with whatever help is at end.

CAPT. SARATH DISSANAYAKE, SRI LANKAN NAVY: We are working throughout 24 hours. These items are going to the most affected areas in Sri Lanka mostly.

RIMINTON (on camera): The immediate relief effort is still overwhelmingly local, rather than international. Ordinary Sri Lankans in the thousands have been donating food items, bags of -- cans of food, rice, water, things that they know that ordinary families like themselves will be needing at this time just to get through another day.

(voice-over): But more international help may also be on its way.

HEINKE VEIT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: We can make available another 30 million euros within the next days. And we're absolutely willing to do that if the needs are there.

RIMINTON: It would be hard to argue that it is not.

Hugh Riminton, CNN, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: The force of nature. A closer look at these frightening images reveals what makes water so powerful.

Lessons learned, how the aid used in past disasters is guiding what is now the biggest relief effort in history. Plus, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ADAM FORBES, VACATIONED IN THAILAND: We had hills. So, we ran up, and the water -- came past the water, but once it got to the mountains, it stopped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Shaken survivors tell their stories of why they believe they made it home alive.

And this programming note. Tonight, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, an extended edition of "ANDERSON COOPER 360." Anderson takes an in-depth look at the disaster and relief efforts, with special focus on the orphans and children of the storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MESERVE: We're going to take a closer look at some of the most horrific images of a tsunami. And we're looking at them with one question in mind. What makes water such a powerful force?

CNN's Michael Schulder begins with a point of comparison.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL SCHULDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the force of wind at nearly 100 miles an hour. Powerful, yes, but not necessarily enough to lift a man off his feet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's just no way to get out of it now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. This is a tidal wave.

SCHULDER: This is the force of water at just a small fraction of that speed. Water is a far more powerful force than wind and far more destructive.

The video that's coming from across South Asia in the past few hours and days shows us tsunamis can look deceptively unthreatening as they hit the shore, but it's telling us something else. For example, this wave seems to come ashore gradually without a lot of force, but it just keeps coming. And it's in the sheer volume of water where the destructive power lies.

These shots from the Indonesia island of Banda Aceh show how a tsunami can mimic the rapids of a river. But, again, it's not the speed that kills. It's the relentlessness. As a swift water rescue worker told us, moving water exerts a constant force on your body, never relaxing, eventually overtaking you.

This video illustrates how the wave's destructive power is increased by one of the things we love most about the water, its buoyancy. It allows us to float, but in this quantity, it picks almost everything that's not bolted down. It's one thing to swim for your live in rough seas. It's another to swim for your life among tons of debris, as Dr. Peter Heydemann somehow managed to do. DR. PETER HEYDEMANN, SURVIVED TSUNAMI: I was probably in the water about 40 minutes. The water was very dangerous. Parts of the buildings were in the water. And there were all these boards that made up the buildings, and the boards had big nails sticking out of them, so that any wave or disturbance in the water could have easily sent one of those boards with me.

SCHULDER: In some ways, the view from space best illustrates the power of the tsunami. This is the coast of Sri Lanka before the waves hit. This is after. The large cloudy whirlpool hints at a force that may have been even more devastating than the tsunami coming ashore, it being sucked back to the ocean.

Michael Schulder, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: One of the many terrifying images in that report was the elderly couple that was swept away by the rushing water in front of their hotel. CNN spoke to the tourist from Sweden who shot some of the video. He tells us the man was found bruised, but alive. It is not clear what happened to the woman.

More than $250 million in aid has been pledged to help the victims of the disaster, and relief agencies say it's shaping up to be the largest humanitarian effort in history.

Zain Verjee joins us with more on getting help to those who need it -- Zain.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jeanne, how do aid groups handle such a massive relief effort? Experiences with past disasters may offer ideas for today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE (voice-over): From Sumatra to Sri Lanka to Somalia, the sheer geographical scale of the tsunami disaster will be a huge test for the international aid effort.

DOUGLAS ALLEN, AMERICAN RED CROSS: It's complicated for the American Red Cross in particular because of the time zones and the distance.

VERJEE: Past relief efforts have been manageable because they've been more concentrated, like in Bam, Iran, in 2003. An ancient city made of mud brick collapsed after a quake, killing over 40,000.

A quake in India's Gujarat state in 2001, nearly 19,000 died. A cyclone tour through Bangladesh in 1991. Nearly 131,000 lost their lives. As relief groups and government gear up for what the U.N. and aid groups say is the biggest aid effort in history...

ALLEN: Of the 126 disasters that I've personally been involved in, this is setting up to be the most complicated.

VERJEE: A look at past disaster relief efforts could be helpful, what worked and what didn't.

THOMAS TIGHE, PRESIDENT & CEO, DIRECT RELIEF INTERNATIONAL: If things are available in a region, it's better to have them come not from here, but from India, if they can access their resources from there. So, we are trying very carefully to make sure we proceed fast, but also to do it right and not just fast.

VERJEE: And what about managing money? USAID chief Andrew Natsios says some money is given immediately, with a full assessment made before all money to fund relief projects is sent in.

NATSIOS: We've had a lot of disasters over the years where you send money to the wrong country in the wrong amount and another country that needs more help doesn't get it.

VERJEE: Disaster relief experts also warn of past experiences where well-intentioned aid comes in, but is ultimately wasted.

MARK KEIN, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: In some cases, you will see inappropriate donations.

VERJEE: In past disasters, ranging from high-heeled shoes to fur coats, outdated and unusable drugs, to anti-smoking inhalers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: The American Red Cross says almost 100 times, at 100, the greatest need in disaster situations like this is portable water -- Jeanne.

MESERVE: Zain, thank you very much.

Back in the safety of his father's arms, a bittersweet reunion for one young boy lost in the tsunami.

Plus, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM WHITLEY, VACATIONED IN PHUKET: I was lucky. I was still in the hotel. I hadn't gone out to the beach yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: The lucky ones. Survivors reflect on what could have been and why they lived.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MESERVE: Yesterday, we told you about a Swedish toddler who turned up in the wake of the tsunami disaster scratched and alone. Today, a reassuring picture; 1 1/2-year-old Hannes Bergstrom reunited with his father. Both father and son are being treated at a Thai hospital. These tears of joy are mixed with tears of anxiety. The boy's mother is still missing. Another reunion. This 4-year-old Thai boy stranded on top of a tree more than two days has been reunited with his father, who was stranded himself. The boy's father was in a boat when the tsunami struck and floated offshore for several hours before he was found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUTHIPONG PHA-OPAS, FATHER (through translator): I was frightened. I did not think I would survive. The rescue team found my son in the mangrove, not me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Some of the Americans who survived the tsunamis are back in the states now.

Our Mary Snow has been listening to their stories -- Mary.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jeanne, these are stories of those who skirted disaster, whether it be a last-minute change of plans in their travel schedule or just being in the right place at the right time. These travelers who flew in to JFK Airport here in New York consider themselves the lucky ones.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEN ROSEN, VACATIONED IN THAILAND: I left the night before. I'm very lucky. I count my blessings.

SNOW (voice-over): For Ken Rosen, his blessing was timing. He was on Phi Phi Island and witnessed the devastation on TV in Bangkok the next day.

ROSEN: I was on a motorcycle on Patong Beach going to the airport that night and looking over the ocean, and it was just beautiful. And then the next day, I came back from weekend market in Bangkok and saw the news and knew that all hell had broken lose.

SNOW: For Stephanie Walker, it was a change of plans that kept her out of harm's way. She supposed to travel to Sumatra, but decided to stay in Bangkok.

STEPHANIE WALKER, CHANGED TRAVEL PLANS: I was told to go to the island to visit because it was so beautiful. I was told that about Thursday. And then, a few days later, we woke up to the news that there had been an earthquake.

SNOW: Jim Whitley felt the earthquake while getting his morning coffee at Starbucks in Phuket. He says he was in his hotel two hours later when the tsunami hit.

WHITLEY: I was lucky. I was still in the hotel. I hadn't gone out to the beach yet.

SNOW: In the area where of Phuket where Whitley was, he says the death toll reached 300 people within two hours. He was on the second floor of his hotel.

WHITLEY: About six foot of water just filled the lobby within seconds.

SNOW: Adam Forbes took the high ground on an island two hours from Phuket.

FORBES: We had hills. So, we ran up, and the water -- came past the water, but once it got to the mountains, it stopped, whereas other islands were just flat, so it just took out everything.

SNOW: Before the tsunami, Forbes was moments away from leaving the island on a boat.

FORBES: No one died right where I was, but in the town, five minutes away, where I was headed, 40 people on the pier died.

SNOW: These travelers share in common their relief, but they're also shaken by what might have been.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: And these travelers we spoke with consider it a bittersweet moment when they arrived back in the U.S. They're happy to be here, but they feel badly that they couldn't help out the people they left behind -- Jeanne.

MESERVE: Mary Snow, thank you.

More powerful images of the tsunami through the eyes of photographers next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MESERVE: Here's how you're weighing in on our Web question of the day: Have you donated money for the tsunami relief efforts? Fifteen percent of you say yes; 85 percent of you say no. This not is a scientific poll.

Once again today, we end this hour with a look at some of the enduring images of the tsunami disaster captured in photographs.

Stay with CNN for continuing live coverage of the tsunami aftermath.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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