CBS Evening News open - 2005-01-01

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] 76 suit. You're watching News Channel 5,

[0:03] your news and information leader.

[0:08] >> Delivering hope. A massive relief effort

[0:10] begins to reach desperate tsunami

[0:12] victims. But flash floods compound the

[0:14] misery in some areas. The story of an

[0:17] American family safe at home after

[0:19] surviving the tsunami. And a sneak peek

[0:22] at what pop culture promises for the new

[0:25] year.

[0:31] This is the CBS Evening News

[0:35] with Russ Mitchell.

[0:39] And good evening. 2005 begins with an

[0:41] unprecedented global effort to help the

[0:43] millions of desperate tsunami survivors.

[0:46] Here's the latest. The relief campaign

[0:48] is struggling as the affected area is

[0:50] whipped by heavy rain, flash floods, and

[0:53] magnitude 6.5 aftershocks. The total of

[0:56] aid donations was pushed to over $2

[0:58] billion today when Japan pledged $500

[1:02] million in assistance. The United States

[1:04] is promising $350 million. The US is

[1:07] also launching one of its biggest

[1:09] military relief missions ever.

[1:11] Helicopters from the aircraft carrier

[1:13] Abraham Lincoln began distributing aid

[1:15] today to remote areas of Sumatra. This

[1:18] is the confirmed number of tsunami

[1:19] deaths is expected to surpass 124,000.

[1:24] We have three reports this evening from

[1:25] the disaster zone. Beginning with Lee

[1:27] Cowan in the devastated Indonesian town,

[1:30] Bandachi.

[1:32] Nowhere is the smell of death more

[1:34] pungent than in the islands of

[1:36] Indonesia, where the number of

[1:37] fatalities from last week's

[1:39] double-barreled hit is now expected to

[1:41] soar past 100,000. Indonesia's president

[1:44] admitted today the final death toll may

[1:46] never be known with hundreds, perhaps

[1:48] even thousands of bodies swept back out

[1:50] to sea. What is most disturbing though,

[1:53] nearly 7 days after the waves hit is the

[1:55] almost routine way that death is now

[1:58] discovered. People just walk by or they

[2:00] step over or sometimes ignore the bodies

[2:02] laying in the streets simply because

[2:04] there are so many.

[2:06] >> What isn't being bagged is being burned

[2:08] in a race to beat what health experts

[2:10] fear could be an epidemic of disease

[2:12] made worse by seasonal rains.

[2:15] Desperately needed aid is beginning to

[2:17] arrive with shipments now coming in from

[2:19] US helicopters in the Indian Ocean, but

[2:21] food and water are beginning to stack up

[2:23] at the island's airport. In part because

[2:25] there's little or no way to distribute

[2:27] it. Even though the food's here, it's

[2:29] hard to get it out to the people who

[2:30] need it.

[2:30] >> I think so. I think so.

[2:31] >> A television station here was hoping to

[2:33] transport some of the aid itself to the

[2:35] hardest hit areas. But before they got

[2:37] out the door with it, a line of needy

[2:39] had already formed.

[2:40] >> People are coming here. They're looking

[2:42] for food. and we just cannot say no.

[2:47] >> And even if the food does arrive here,

[2:49] the island is still woefully unprepared

[2:51] to deal with the other cleanup, the mud

[2:52] and debris, acres of it everywhere. That

[2:55] will be the cleanup after the bodies.

[2:57] Russell

[2:58] >> Lee, with many of these areas still

[3:00] inaccessible, uh how do authorities plan

[3:03] to get aid to the folks living there?

[3:06] >> The problem is the logistics and some of

[3:08] the infrastructure in order to get those

[3:10] supplies out to places they need it.

[3:11] There are bridges out, there are roads

[3:12] out. We're talking about an effort

[3:14] that's not just going to be getting food

[3:15] to one place. It's going to be

[3:17] helicopters making airdrops. It's going

[3:19] to be boats making sea drops in order to

[3:21] get to these very unaccessible areas.

[3:23] So, this is a huge huge effort, not just

[3:24] on one level, but a host of them.

[3:27] >> Lee Cowan in Bandit Ache, Indonesia.

[3:29] Take care and thank you.

[3:31] >> Secretary of State Coen Powell and

[3:33] Florida Governor Jeb Bush are headed to

[3:35] Indonesia tomorrow. UN Secretary General

[3:37] Kofi Anan follows later in the week.

[3:39] Today, the first wave of American

[3:41] military muscle arrived in the region,

[3:43] bringing supplies and hope. Barry

[3:45] Peterson has the latest from Thailand.

[3:49] >> This was one of America's first missions

[3:51] of mercy, an Air Force C130 with a plane

[3:54] load of injured tourists from resorts in

[3:56] southern Thailand. Like so many others,

[3:59] they were caught in the terror of the

[4:01] tsunami. Like so many others, they

[4:03] needed not just medical help, but a

[4:06] moment of comfort. For flight surgeon

[4:08] Major Gary Star, the trauma of the

[4:10] injured cut to his heart.

[4:12] >> Just looking at the little subtle things

[4:14] around you, seeing people's eyes,

[4:15] knowing what's been going on.