CBS Evening News open - 2004-12-30

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] From all of us here at News Channel 5,

[0:02] >> happy holidays.

[0:07] >> Tonight, the tsunami death toll now tops

[0:10] six figures. Amid the devastation,

[0:12] survivors line up for food and for shots

[0:15] as officials try to prevent still more

[0:17] deaths from disease. Desperate parents

[0:20] search for missing children. And the

[0:22] internet becomes a clearing house for

[0:24] donations. Also tonight, US Marines

[0:28] train Iraqis to fight back against

[0:30] insurgents. We'll give you the inside

[0:32] story. Plus, Dick Tracy had one. Soon

[0:36] you can, too. A look at new technology

[0:39] in the year ahead.

[0:48] This is the CBS Evening News with Dan

[0:52] Rather.

[0:53] >> And good evening. Dan is off tonight.

[0:55] and I'm John Roberts. The number is

[0:57] staggering. The tsunami death toll today

[0:59] passed 100,000. For the survivors,

[1:02] relief is arriving. More is on the way.

[1:05] And pledges of aid now total a half a

[1:07] billion dollars. It will go to help an

[1:10] estimated 5 million people in a dozen

[1:12] countries, many in remote areas lacking

[1:15] basic food and shelter. Polluted

[1:17] drinking water is a major health threat.

[1:19] The estimated death toll is now at least

[1:23] 125,000. That includes 80,000 in

[1:26] Indonesia alone and tens of thousands in

[1:29] Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. The US

[1:32] government reports 14 Americans killed,

[1:34] 2 to 3,000 unaccounted for. The

[1:37] Indonesian island of Sumatra took the

[1:40] deadliest hit. Take a look at this. This

[1:41] satellite photo shows the provincial

[1:43] capital of Bande Acha before the

[1:45] tsunami. And here it is after more than

[1:49] half the city destroyed. Reporter Scott

[1:51] Beavenon of Channel 9 Australia is there

[1:54] and I asked him what he has seen.

[1:57] >> John, as we were flying in, we noticed

[1:59] as we were getting ever closer to the

[2:01] ground, the extent of the damage and how

[2:04] much the coast had encroached on the

[2:06] land and mother nature had scoured

[2:08] everything clean.

[2:09] >> There are estimates that uh in Ache

[2:11] province alone there are some 80,000

[2:13] people who have died. Do you expect that

[2:15] number is going to go up?

[2:16] >> People are saying, well, it's likely

[2:18] likely to climb again. A lot of these

[2:21] coastal towns, a lot of the islands off

[2:23] the coastal strip are yet to be reached

[2:25] and for numbers to be counted and uh for

[2:28] the full tragedy to be known.

[2:29] >> The city that you're in, Banda Ache, is

[2:31] home to some 300,000 people. Um how are

[2:34] people coping?

[2:35] >> There are cues for gas. There is a

[2:38] struggle to find food, for clean water,

[2:41] and to avoid, I guess, the second deadly

[2:44] wave, the wave of disease. That's all

[2:45] going on. And yet, in spite of that,

[2:47] people are getting on with their life.

[2:49] Can you describe for us Scott how the

[2:50] relief efforts are going?

[2:52] >> There is that problem of getting to

[2:54] these remote areas but aid is starting

[2:56] to come in. There are Hercules coming in

[2:58] with aid on board uh from overseas and

[3:01] it's starting to trickle through.

[3:03] >> How has what you have seen affected you?

[3:06] Any particular stories that will stay

[3:08] with you? And the one that has been

[3:09] seared into my mind already and will

[3:12] probably stay there forever is the body

[3:15] of a small child who looks so helpless

[3:18] lying in the water there. That for me is

[3:21] the defining image, the emotional image

[3:24] of this tsunami.

[3:26] >> Scott Beavenon from Channel 9 Australia.

[3:27] Really appreciate you taking the time

[3:29] today.

[3:29] >> Thanks, John. It's believed that a third

[3:32] or more of the tsunami victims are

[3:34] children. And in Thailand, many were

[3:36] foreigners on vacation with their

[3:38] parents. Correspondent Barry Peterson

[3:40] reports on the desperate search for the

[3:42] youngest victims.

[3:44] Max Workhelm is four. His big brother

[3:47] Charlie is all of six. Saga Colm is

[3:51] three. Erica is from Japan. Charlotte's

[3:55] Venson's 10th birthday party is 2 weeks

[3:58] from today. Now they share one fate.

[4:01] Their pictures are on the boards at

[4:03] Phuket's main hospital.

[4:05] >> These are posters put up by family

[4:07] members. A last desperate plea that

[4:09] somebody will spot a face and recognize

[4:11] it. They come from all over. From

[4:13] France, from Spain, from Japan.

[4:17] Some have special identifying marks, a

[4:20] tattoo or what people were wearing the

[4:22] last time they were seen. And as you can

[4:24] see, there