CBS Evening News open - 2005-01-04

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Vicky Yates. Week nights on News Channel

[0:02] 5 at 6.

[0:08] >> Tonight from the tsunami zone, the race

[0:11] against time to get help to survivors,

[0:14] bury the dead, and find the missing.

[0:17] Back in the US, he's anxiously awaiting

[0:20] word of his girlfriend. And this

[0:23] American will tell you why he's come

[0:25] here to lend a hand. Also tonight, the

[0:29] campaign of violence against Iraqi

[0:31] elections. Insurgents kill a highranking

[0:34] Iraqi official and five US troops. And

[0:37] are you on a diet? A new study examines

[0:40] four of the most popular diets and your

[0:43] chances for success.

[0:53] This is the CBS Evening News with Dan

[0:57] Rather reporting tonight from Thailand

[1:00] and John Roberts in New York.

[1:03] Good evening. Here in Thailand and

[1:06] throughout the tsunami zone, it's a

[1:08] desperate struggle tonight to get help

[1:10] where it's needed. Right now, I'm in

[1:12] Phuket in front of the remnants of what

[1:14] was once an oceanfront home. Millions

[1:17] are homeless and hungry throughout this

[1:19] region. Hospitals overflowing with sick

[1:22] and injured. The United Nations warns

[1:25] the confirmed death toll of about

[1:27] 150,000 is sure to rise. The UN's World

[1:31] Food Program said at least 125,000 tons

[1:34] of rice is needed to feed the millions

[1:37] of homeless, but logistical problems are

[1:40] hampering efforts to deliver food and

[1:42] other relief supplies.

[1:44] Secretary of State Coen Powell was here

[1:46] today in Phuket, Thailand, this

[1:48] country's hardest hit area. The

[1:50] >> United States will do everything that it

[1:52] can to assist the people of Thailand, as

[1:54] well as the other nations of the region

[1:56] who have suffered as a result of the

[2:00] tsunami.

[2:02] Secretary Powell will represent the

[2:03] United States at a recovery planning

[2:05] meeting Thursday in Indonesia, where the

[2:08] tsunami killed at least 100,000 people.

[2:11] On the coast of Western Indonesia today,

[2:14] survivors still work to recover the

[2:16] dead. CBS's Lee Cowan reports. Many

[2:19] bodies are still unburied 9 days after

[2:22] the disaster.

[2:24] >> Never before has success been measured

[2:27] in such a gruesome way. The race to

[2:30] clean up the estimated 30,000 bodies

[2:32] that still clogged the streets of Bond

[2:34] Ache is finally starting to show some

[2:36] limited progress. Two days ago, for

[2:39] example, dozens of dead floated in an

[2:41] unimaginable cesspool. Now that waterway

[2:44] is clear, but the health concerns are

[2:46] only rising. Many of those involved in

[2:48] the cleanup are volunteers with no

[2:50] formal training. Rubber gloves and paper

[2:52] masks are the only protection they have

[2:54] against disease. There are few tasks

[2:57] more grim than the one these men are

[2:58] charged with. Digging by hand, by stick

[3:01] through the city's waterways, looking

[3:02] for bodies that are still submerged.

[3:05] We watched as the remains of a young

[3:06] child, a woman, and a fisherman were

[3:09] found along the banks, still being

[3:11] battered by debris. In a Macab

[3:13] orchestra, the bodies, partially clothed

[3:16] and bloated, were snagged and dragged

[3:18] behind the boats for their undignified

[3:20] return to dry land.

[3:23] I hope God has a special place for me