Guests: LT. GEN. P.K. KEEN, DEPUTY COMMANDER, U.S. SOUTHERN COMMAND
RAJIV SHAH, USAID ADMINISTRATOR
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
"We want to bring you up to date on all of the developments out of Haiti. It has been five days since the devastating earthquake hit that island nation, the latest estimates from the Haitian government, 50,000 bodies have already been recovered and the death toll is likely to be between 100,000 and 200,000. Our preliminary Red Cross estimate puts the total number of affected people, affected Haitians at 3.5 million. As the focus now moves from rescue operations to the massive task of trying to get food, water and shelter to desperate survivors, all of this as there are increasing reports of looting and intensifying violence. We will hear from former Presidents Bush and Clinton in just a moment on their joint fundraising efforts and how they are committed to a long-term rebuilding effort in this country of so much need. But first, let’s get the very latest this morning on rescue and relief operations and for that we are joined in Port-au-Prince by Lieutenant General Ken Keen, a three-star general who is heading up the U.S. military relief evident on the ground and here in Washington by Dr. Rajiv Shah, the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. Welcome to both of you. Dr. Shah, let me begin with you, you were just in Haiti, just yesterday with Secretary of State Clinton. You had a chance to meet with officials of the government. What is the latest? What is your assessment on the ground there? SHAH: Well, I did have a chance to go to Haiti yesterday and it’s just a reminder of what you articulated, that this has been a tremendous tragedy, that three and a half million people have been affected; perhaps even more. There’s been significant loss of life. And there’s been significant degrading of the basic infrastructure: roads, the airport was inaccessible, the port has been destroyed. And so it’s a challenging, challenging situation. But the president immediately after this happened pulled the cabinet together and ordered a swift, aggressive and comprehensive and coordinated response and that’s what we’ve been in the process of doing. Going to Haiti yesterday was a chance to visit with the brave Americans who are part of that response. GREGORY: How big is this death toll going to be? Do you have any sense of that? SHAH: Well, we have no reason to contradict the numbers that you were articulating and that we’ve all heard. And I think we’ll get a lot more information as we are more active in collecting bodies and as we’re doing more of the recovery and rescue and you know, getting through the buildings and through the debris. GREGORY: You say rescue. Is it still possible to find more people alive? SHAH: Absolutely. This is still an active rescue operation. We -- as the U.S. government we were the first government to send rescue teams on the ground, in fact, a team from Fairfax County, Virginia that I had a chance to meet with were the first ones to reach there. They established a site of operations at the airport and helped coordinate and discharge the responsibilities of almost 30 other teams that came in from around the world. We have more than -- almost 400 Americans actively involved in urban search and rescue, these are teams with real capabilities, with specialized equipment, with lighting. They work overnight and they are really heroes. I had a chance to meet with them yesterday. They saved dozens of people, mostly Haitians and they are very committed and they are actively involved in rescues. GREGORY: General Keen, let me turn to you down in Port-au- Prince. Your priorities: food, water, safe shelter. How’s it going? KEEN: Well sir, we had a very good day yesterday. In getting out, delivering supplies, we delivered over 130,000 rations and 70,000 bottles of water. But that’s just the beginning. We’re going to do better every day."
- CQ Politics | CQ Transcript: NBC’s “Meet the Press” (view on Google Sidewiki)
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