Risks to Relief Workers; Trapped Girl Believed to be Alive; L.A. County Search And Rescue Feverishly Works At A Site Amidst Uncertainty, Danger, And Driven By The Hope Of Waiting Relatives Of The Missing
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Don, thank you. The United Nations confirms its top two civilian officials in Haiti were in fact killed in the earthquake. Some estimates now put the death toll at more than 100,000. Relief workers warning the numbers will quickly rise if water, food and medicine don't reach a desperate population. These are critical hours. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is visiting Haiti right now to look at the damage and relief efforts. Fifty Americans will be evacuated with her once she leaves. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are tapped by President Obama to lead a Haiti fundraising effort. Their message to Americans, send cash and do it right now. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States, and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. But first, breaking news: A dramatic story unfolding in Haiti right now. A little girl has been found alive after four days under a collapsed day-care center. But she's trapped. She's trapped underneath tons of rubble. Our Anderson Cooper is on the scene for us. Anderson, set the scene for us. Tell us what we know.</s>ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know is somebody is trapped alive underneath this rubble, Wolf. We don't know exactly who it is. There is a number of families here who believe that their loved one might be trapped. There is a little girl named Laika (ph), who is 10 years old. Her mother, Manushka (ph), is the one who originally stopped these fire personnel from L.A. County Fire Department, L.A. County Search & Rescue. They were driving down the street, they're in control of this sector. They're responsible for searching rubble and debris in this sector, in downtown Port-au-Prince. Earlier today, around 12:30, they were stopped by a woman named Manushka (ph), who was despondent saying her daughter was trapped alive inside this rubble. We came over with the search and rescue team. Our interpreter Vlad, who works for CNN in New York, who came here with us, who speaks Creole, who speaks French, came with the firefighters, yelling out, asking anybody inside the rubble to tap three times. That was the signal to see if somebody was alive. They were listening with equipment, with listening devices, very sensitive equipment. They thought they heard some moaning. They tried to get everybody on the street to be quiet. But there is so much ambient noise it is very hard for search and rescue personnel to determine what sound, exactly, they're hearing. They brought in, at three different times, over the last four hours, they had brought in dogs, specially trained dogs to search that are not cadaver dogs, but dogs that can search for living people inside of rubble. One dog showed interest early on. But the last time they brought a dog in, the dog didn't have a positive hit that there was somebody alive. Nevertheless, these search and rescue personnel, who are very experienced, continued pushing forward, continued searching. They have been trying to -- they have been -- for four hours now pushing into the building, trying to enter it very carefully through this direction. About an hour, hour and a half ago, they also went in through another direction and they burrowed in, at great risk to themselves, and for the first time when they called out they distinctly heard three taps. It was a remarkable moment. I talked to the firefighter who actually heard the taps. He said, look, this is a go. Out of a scale of one to 10, he described it as being a 10 as a positive indication that somebody is alive. We don't know who it is. And there is a lot of hopeful moms and dads out here right now, hoping it is their loved one. But what is so remarkable about this, Wolf, is this is basically four days to the hour that this earthquake first struck. It was Tuesday afternoon around 5:30, I believe if I'm not mistaken, it is now Saturday, I think it is the top of the 5:00 hour. Four days, somebody is still alive inside the structure. Wolf, this is what used to be a day-care center. What you're probably seeing is actually the second story which now kind of seems like the first story. The first story is basically completely buried. But they believe there are voids, open spaces inside the rubble in which whoever is in there is basically entombed inside the rubble, but in some sort of an open air space, maybe underneath the staircase or maybe there is an interior wall that didn't collapse. That's what allowed this person to stay alive. Remarkably, we talked to several people, one young man whose sister may be somebody -- may be inside there, alive or dead, we don't know, whose sister works in this day-care center. This man told us a little girl named Theresa actually was pulled out of here just yesterday. She was 13 years old. And she tells a story that another little girl, a girl by the name of Dorian Bruno, who is 12 years old, she says she saw Dorian Bruno alive yesterday, inside the rubble, and as she was crawling out, Dorian tried to call out but in the words of this little girl, she fell asleep. What that means, we don't know. The mom, Manushka (ph), is still here on the scene. She has been praying silently for many hours. She's obviously beside herself with fear and concern. But so thankful that these search and rescue personnel from L.A. County have been here. Not only stopped, but dedicated themselves, for many hours now to try to rescue whoever is inside. Night has come. They brought out lights, as you can see. They're going to be continuing to do this, whatever it takes, as they push deep inside the rubble. There are a number of concerns, Wolf. First of all, whoever is inside is pretty deep -- deep inside. So they have tunneled down, and now they're going to tunnel laterally, but there is a -- what used to be a seven story building, which is about, I don't know, I'm guessing 20 or so feet to the right to me, it is now probably now four and a half to five story building because it is basically collapsed. There is a lot of concern about the integrity of that structure if, God forbid, there is some sort of an aftershock, as we have seen over the last four days, a number of aftershocks. There is concern that that building could fall down even more. All of this is something these search and rescue personnel are taking into account as they just continue their operations as long as it takes, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Do we have reason to believe, Anderson that this scene that we're seeing here with the L.A. County search and rescue team is being replicated elsewhere in Port-au-Prince, and in Haiti, or is this more of an isolated incident?</s>COOPER: Let me just tell you, Wolf, right now they just sent in another dog, I think that's Maverick. They are sending in a dog by the name of Maverick, who they sent in a couple of times before. And basically when that happens, everybody kind of stops because they have to let the site air out because the rescue workers have been inside for so long, rescue workers pull out, they allow air to move through the site so that the scent of the living rescue workers doesn't throw the dog off. And now Maverick is going into the hole where the rescue workers have been, moving pieces of concrete out, by hand, over the last five hours. It is incredibly painstaking process, Wolf. And, I mean, watching these workers up close you get such respect for what they're doing at great risk to themselves. It is like moving pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, but a jigsaw puzzle that is all around you. And can fall down on top of you. They have also been cutting, they have asked local people, and they themselves have been scavenging for large pieces of two-by-fours that they have been cutting to size. And they have essentially been using that, building kind of support structures for the structure that remains to try to keep thing that is over their heads now from toppling in on them. But everyone is just stopped right now. And is standing in place, not moving because they don't want to distract the search and rescue dog as it goes about its work, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: We see maverick, that dog, right now. Certainly we don't want to do anything that could upset what is going on. But I was wondering if this is just an isolated incident, or if these kinds of search and rescue operations are under way throughout Port-au- Prince?</s>COOPER: There are search and rescue teams from all around the world right now here in Port-au-Prince. They have been coming in over the last several days. I should point out L.A. County has, I think, about 75 rescue personnel here. This is just one of their teams. They have three different teams. There is about 25 men and women on this particular team. And they got here in the morning after the earthquake. They were here on the ground and have been working. A lot of these other teams have been coming in as best they can over the last several days. What is incredibly frustrating, though, for a lot of people who live in this area is that for four days now, they have been trying to get Haitian personnel to come here and take a look at this site. One of the young men, Harold, who believes his sister may be alive or may be dead, but he's pretty sure she's in this site because she works this day-care center. He tells us that he actually climbed into this structure over the last several days in search of his sister. He's seen two bodies inside there so far. There is somebody right over there, a foot, I can see, of somebody who is already deceased. But Harold says he went to the local Haitian authorities, the local fire department in Haiti, begged them to come to this site, nobody came for a long time. Finally when somebody did come, Harold says that he was told that they were only interested in collecting dead bodies. They weren't there to search for the living. So you can imagine the relief that a lot of people have in this neighborhood when they saw the L.A. County Fire search and rescue team, not only driving down the street, but stopped. And, you know, basically dedicated themselves today to try to rescue whoever is inside.</s>BLITZER: Here's what's so heart breaking, Anderson, you've seen this. You have heard about it. And our viewers are really anguished by it, sometimes after one day, two days, three days, someone is saved, they're brought out, especially a young kid, only to die 15 minutes later, or an hour or two later, because there isn't the proper medicine, or medical equipment, or medical personnel on the scene. This is still a huge problem, isn't it?</s>COOPER: It is absolutely a huge problem. Ivan Watson, our correspondent, of course, had a heartbreaking story just yesterday. This little girl who he had seen two days ago, who he had seen being rescued, whose hand he had held, only subsequently to learn yesterday that she had died because she couldn't get to the hospital that she needed to get to. I talked to one of the rescuers here and you can imagine what that is like for them after working, risking their own lives to try to save somebody, and giving them medical attention on site, you know, to learn that later on they haven't survived. What they do here, they have a trauma surgeon, they have EMTs, they try to treat whoever the rescue on site as best they can, try to give them an IV. Try to assess whatever has happened to them. Just last night I'm told they rescued three people. They were able to save two of them, one person died, though, just apparently as they were being brought out. What is interesting, Wolf, is that some of the people who are being -- whoever may be inside here, we're not sure what condition they may be in. They apparently at least were able to tap, but some of these people that are being discovered. At least yesterday, were in these void spaces and actually some not injured really at all. They just happened to be entombed inside the rubble and unable to get out. But there is huge concern about what happens to these people after they are rescued. Sometimes their families take them away and - No hits. That is --just got the word that Maverick, the dog who was inside, didn't get any hits. So that's certainly not a good sign, but the search continues as you can see. Rescue personnel moving back in right now as we speak. It is the concern, though, Wolf, about what happens to somebody after they are rescued. As you know, the hospital facilities here are completely overwhelmed. And that, you know, that's still a huge problem. Sometimes their family members take them, as happened with the case of the little girl that Ivan Watson saw being rescued. And those family members are told, take her to the hospital, but either they fail to do that or they take them to the hospital and they still can't get any medical attention. We'll see what happens, whatever condition this person is in, but as of an hour and a half ago, they were sure somebody was alive. We'll try to see what is happening now that the dog didn't get a positive hit. That's certainly not a good sign. But the dog didn't get a hit earlier as well, and yet they heard tapping. So they're going to continue working, they're going to assess the situation and will likely be here for quite some time, until they figure out exactly what has happened to that person.</s>BLITZER: We'll be in close touch with you, Anderson. You'll let us know what's going on. Please thank all of those search and rescue workers from the L.A. County Fire Department. The ambassador of Haiti to the United States Raymond Joseph is here with us. He's going to be with us throughout the hour. This is a heart breaking story that is unfolding over and over and over again. And, Mr. Ambassador, what's so disconcerting is even if somebody is saved, there isn't the medical equipment there to deal with it. There aren't the doctors, the hospitals, and people who could survive die.</s>RAYMOND JOSEPH, HAITIAN AMB. TO UNITED STATES: It is heartbreaking (ph). I start getting the bad news because finally I have reconnected with most people in Haiti, the telephones are working. And last night, for example, Antonio Rodriguez, associate ambassador to the OAS, Organization of American States, here in Washington, he gave me a note. He says my brother is in the central bank. That's where he used to work. And they got a message from his e-mail saying he was still down there. So he asked me, could you see whether some teams could get there, because they have been there and they didn't see anything. They didn't see life. Well, this morning, one of the first calls I got was from Ambassador Rodriguez, saying just forget it. They did go back and they said they found him, but he's dead.</s>BLITZER: We keep hearing these stories over and over again. Mr. Ambassador, stand by. I know you're getting information from your government in Port-au-Prince all the time. I want to pick your brain on the latest casualty count. What we know about that, relief efforts under way. Stand by, we'll speak with the ambassador. He'll be with us throughout this hour. Also we'll go live back to Port-au-Prince. Karl Penhaul, he is on the scene for us, he was in the midst of some serious problems when they were trying to distribute food in Haiti.