All language subtitles for s01e03.Breaking.News.2160p.WEB-DL.Rus.Eng.[sub.eng]-BLUEBIRD

-On Christmas Day, 2004,

I was working the
overnight shift in charge

of CNN's international desk.

So, I come up the escalators
into the main CNN newsroom,

and it was all almost
completely empty.

Everybody knows that
Christmas Day is one of the

quietest days in the news,
in the news business.

And I asked my colleague,

"Is there anything
going on in the world?"

And she said, "Not really,
it's quiet."

She said, "There is a
report of an earthquake off

the coast of Sumatra.

Otherwise, well,
there's, there's nothing

really going on."

But then the phone rang,

and our New Delhi
bureau chief was calling

in from Sri Lanka.

And he said,

"I'm getting reports
here of coastal areas

utterly wiped out."

I told him,

"There was a massive
earthquake in Indonesia."

And as soon as I got
that first call from SAT,

I realize this is,
this is really serious.

It had to be a tsunami.

[overlapping foreign chatter]

[♪ theme music playing]

-I was a correspondent
in the region,

and I'd been
working really hard,

five years without
a break, really.

My family was upset,

and to sort of
make amends, I said,

"Hey, let's go for a vacation,
and let's go to Sri Lanka."

So, we decide to go
shopping as a family.

And I notice there's an
edginess out in the streets.

Something's not right,
that's for sure.

My phone beeped,

and it was from our
stringer correspondent

in Sri Lanka and the
message was very short,

"Call me, it's urgent."

And he says, "Satinder,
strange things are happening.

I'm getting reports from
Eastern Sri Lanka...

the opposite side
of the island,

that it has been
hit by huge waves."

I don't know
what's going on,

and I think we need to move.

-I was traveling
for six months before I

got to Sri Lanka.

Doing some yoga, loving it.

And, I came with a good feeling,

good vibration, like,
new country, new adventures.

I ran down to the beach.

There's the reef and the stones.

But the reef was exposed,
and the sea was far behind.

There was shrimps like
hopping on the, on the rocks.

And there was no fear.

Should have been,
there should have been.

Then there was a shout,

"The sea is coming,
the sea is coming."

[rushing water]

[overlapping chatter]

But it looked like
it's coming gently.

[rushing water]

[overlapping chatter]

Suddenly, everybody
started running.

And then, "Pffft."

[distant screams]

[overlapping chatter]

-We had a TV on in
the Operations Room.

We hadn't seen any
media reports yet,

but we were thinking,
not good, yeah.

[overlapping chatter]

We're doing as much
searching as we can do,

whatever we can
find data-wise,

media-wise, anything,
to try and get a better

grip on this.

By then, we knew that this
ocean-crossing tsunami would

probably endanger
every country along the

Indian Ocean coast.

And Sri Lanka was in
the worst possible position

from the maximum tsunami.

It was the largest
rupture in history.

On the order of 1,200
to 1,300 kilometers long,

about the size of
the state of California.

And because Sri Lanka was
perpendicular to the fault line,

it was broadsided
by the tsunami.

Tsunamis will refract.

They will bend
around the island,

putting populations
on other sides,

far sides of the island,
in danger.

We're talking about
tremendous damage,

tremendous loss of life,

not just one wave
but multiple waves,

and it can often
be a subsequent wave

that is stronger.

[rushing water]

[overlapping chatter]

[speaking in foreign language]

[rushing water]

[Sue Mor Ben Zvi] I was
underwater and I had no air.

[rushing water]

[metal clang

I remember the feeling of
the wave passing on my face

and trying to tear off my
nostrils and opening my eyelids,

like immense force.

I was being dragged and
my legs were being torn.

[Satinder Bindra] We're
driving right along the coast.

And now the crowds
have swelled up.

There's thousands of
people out on the water,

close to the beach and
they're all looking at the sea,

which is very high,
it's very rough.

And then I get a
call from Galle,

in the south of Sri Lanka.

He's speaking fast and I have
to ask him to slow it down.

He said, "There's water
in the train station,

there's water in
the bus station,

there's water everywhere.

This is a disaster."

All this was happening just
miles away from where I was.

And I see from my vantage
point that the sea's certainly

come way towards the hotel.

I had to keep my
family safe and I said,

"It's time to go up."

-It was a very crowded train.

My mother and I were traveling
to my aunt and uncle's farm,

which is the home where
my mother grew up.

We were standing shoulder
to shoulder with other people.

I'm one of three siblings,

so it's always nice
to get some time alone

with with your mother,
but also for me,

it was wonderful to see her
in her natural environment.

[speaking in foreign language]

We moved to
America in the late '80s,

and in America,
people will often ask you

where you're from.

So, I've kind of
developed this answer of,

"Chicago is home,
and then Sri Lanka

is home, home."

So, just what most
immigrants do of straddling

their two worlds.

The train stopped.

And the first moments that
we really felt that something

was amiss was when the
water level from far out

just started
getting closer to us.

Water, and it
actually entered our train,

and it slowly,
kind of crept up your body,

ankles, knees,
thighs, waist, and then

the water slowly then receded.

I went out to take a
couple of pictures.

The car in front of us had
tipped over to its side.

My mother and I debated if
we should try to go out and

just swim somewhere,

but looking out from
the train car window,

there was no dry
land to be seen.

-We could hear
screaming start and, again,

the water started at our feet,

rose to our knees,
waist, chest, and I think

it was at that point
that I realized,

this is different
than the first one.

This is not gonna
just ebb and go down.

And then, our train
car tipped over.

[metal clang and groan]

We were all falling
on top of each other,

but submerged underwater.

So, I kicked.

Very likely could
have kicked my mother.

And this window that was
looking out over the ocean

was now on top.

Then, mercifully, it was
open and I’m small enough

that I could pull
myself up and out.

I was alive,

and there’s a chance
now I can get my mother,

and we could be okay.

Then we started pulling
whatever hands were reaching

out from that window,
and I just thought we would

eventually get to her.

[sighs]

And, at some point,
then the water levels receded.

I found my mother
fairly quickly.

So, I tried pushing
on her abdomen and

trying to revive her,

and it seemed hopeful
because there was water coming

out of her, her mouth.

And then, shortly after,
the water turned to blood.

I just didn’t want
to hurt her anymore,

to make her bleed,
so I stopped.

I took her wedding
ring and kissed her,

and I told my Ami
that I’ll be back for her,

and then we left.

We left her on the train.

And we went into the waters
to try to find some land

to be safe.

[honking]

[overlapping panic chatter]

[Satinder Bindra]
The higher we were,

the safer I felt for my family.

And the first thing,

I go up to the balcony,
I look out.

There's a small road
in front of the hotel,

the sea has crossed the road.

There's a pool nearby.

I see the sea thunder
into that pool.

And the adrenaline
that I normally have as a

correspondent is
now replaced by fear.

I called Eli at CNN's
Atlanta Headquarters.

[Eli Fournoy] SAT called
in and I realized we needed

to understand the
true scale of this tsunami.

We're supposed to be
able to tell people what's

going on in a situation,
literally of life and death.

And there were only
three of us in Atlanta on

the international desk,
and it was incredibly difficult

to get accurate information.

We're contacting
people on the ground,

we're trying to talk to
government officials.

Everything told us that
Sri Lanka was the center

of the story.

-Music, cue up the six.
Music, we're back, standby--

[Eli Fournoy] So, I
put Satinder through to

the control room.

-Standby B, tracking B is next.

-It felt surreal.

Here I am on break,

CNN is in full
Breaking News mode.

That's a big moment.

[overlapping chatter]

And I gave the first
eyewitness report to the world,

live from the sixth-floor
hotel balcony.

[reporter] We're
joined on the line from

Colombo by our correspondent,
Satinder Bindra.

Satinder.

[Satinder Bindra] Yeah,
I'm standing right next

to the coastline
here in Colombo.

The sea's moved in very,
very quickly and quickly

sucked everything out.

Residents here,
obviously, very concerned,

because no one is quite sure...

At this point, I know
this is a big story and

the world had to
know what was happening.

I pick up the phone and
call my bureau in Delhi and

I tell the
assignment editor there,

"Pull everybody off their break.
We need a full crew.

We need a cameraman.

We've got to get a live
presence on this story."

Perhaps more than 100 people
there are feared dead.

The officials too
are very concerned,

they are monitoring
coastal area.

They're telling people that
they should leave their homes

and move back.

We are receiving information...

-First thing in the morning,

my neighbor knocked
hard on the door.

Came in, asked me
to turn on the TV.

So, I did what they said.

[reporter] Bursting through
the trees with water headed

inland right
behind fleeing tourists.

-I saw the wave.

I saw a big wave
and I panicked,

because I knew the
wave took my daughter.

I knew it.

She was traveling
around Sri Lanka and

I'm a single mother,
so I cannot lose her.

She was all my world.

I only wanted to hear her voice.

Only to hear her voice.

[overlapping chatter]

[sirens]

[overlapping chatter]

[overlapping chatter]

[♪ somber music playing]

[♪ somber music playing]

[Satinder Bindra] I take the van
that I'd hired for my family.

I drive down the
coast towards Galle.

And the force of what
happened that morning hits me.

It destroyed everything.

And what I'm seeing is just
the tip of the iceberg.

I go into a fishing
community and the sea's rushed

onto the land.

And I look up about a
kilometer down the coast,

the roads were destroyed, gone.

There was no way you
could get from Colombo

to Galle by road.

All communications were down,

and I made the
decision that we must try to

get a helicopter into Galle.

[Eli Fournoy] We were
realizing that roads and bridges

were gone, telephone
lines were knocked down,

and we went for the first
several hours thinking that

Sri Lanka was the
epicenter of the story.

But then, there was a
massive volume of information

that was now flooding in
from so many sources.

We started to hear
reports from India,

from Malaysia,

the Maldives

and from Thailand

and we were calling
everyone in the field.

Everyone in the field
was calling in to us,

and we sent everybody
to every location that

we could think of.

We, we just had no context
for understanding a tsunami

of that size and that,
that magnitude.

Nothing like this
had ever happened in any

of our lifetimes.

[overlapping foreign chatter]

[overlapping foreign chatter]

[Sue Mor Ben Zvi] I
don't remember standing up.

I was broken and I had
this deep wound in my leg.

Everything was chaos, chaos.

The local villagers
started to gather up everybody

that was still alive.

And they are starting to
evacuate us to the hospitals.

I felt really alone.

And I saw a guy with
a cellular phone.

And I asked him if I
could use the phone and

he said that he would
give it to me with pleasure

but there's no lines.

Like, physically,
the poles went down.

There's no communication.

And I said, "Let me try."

So, he handed the phone to me.

[speaking in foreign language]

And she answered.

And I go like,
"Mommy, I'm fine."

-She was alive.

I lost it.
I just lost it.

I was screaming,

I, see her,
I was screaming, Sue, Sue.

-And I think the conversation
lasted, like, two seconds,

but I was still holding
the phone and talking.

[Roni Mor Shorei]
I got her back.

I got myself back.

I got life back.

[smooches]

[helicopter rotors]

[Satinder Bindra] We managed to
get a helicopter from Colombo.

And then you start
coming in towards Galle and

then you can see from the air.

Everything along the coast
had been just blown away.

And I remember being
told about the train.

Minutes after the train
left the last station,

that train station had
information that the train was

heading straight
into the tsunami.

But there was no
cell phone on the train,

and that message
couldn't be delivered.

[Eranthie Mendis] There
were local people that were

ferrying people
away from the train.

I was just numb with
shock and grief.

I had made it back
to my aunt and uncle.

I just hugged them,
they just held me.

[sobs]

So, that's when I was safe...
And home.

Home-home.

-What are you doing?

[Eranthie Mendis] There's
some beauty of saying "goodbye"

to my my mother when
she was so vital and alive.

She was 55 and young
and healthy and beautiful.

And, I think I finally
understand now, being a mother,

if you get a choice,

you always want your
children to survive.

[Satinder Bindra] It's
estimated perhaps more than

2,000 people were killed.

[Eranthie Mendis]
We had electricity,

so we could watch the news.

-We estimate hundreds died
when a train flipped over on

its side and then waves just
carried it out towards the sea,

entire rail tracks
were ripped out...

[Eranthie Mendis] I
realized then how few people

survived that train.

Those odds have
brought guilt, joy,

understanding
the randomness,

God's plan,
however you wanna call it.

Watching the news over the
next few days made me realize

how lucky I was alive.

-We're interrupting your
regular programming to bring

you some breaking
news from ABC News.

The most powerful
earthquake in 40 years...

-...triggered giant
waves, or tsunamis that...

-...hit without warning at the
peak of the holiday season.

-Many of the victims lived
outside the range of the

International Tsunami
Warning System.

Mary Peterson has
the latest on a disaster

whose full dimensions
have yet to be...

[Barry Hirshorn] I remember
hearing how these trains

in Sri Lanka had
been knocked off their rails.

That was just mind-blowing,
you know?

I called my wife.

She started to cry,

and I remember
crying as well.

So, it was tough.

That was a big moment.

As it dawned on
us that Sri Lanka

had been devastated,

we were thinking,
what more can we do?

What can we do?

And then the phone rang,

I picked it up and it
was the US State Department.

I explained to them,

this is an
ocean-wide danger.

You've got relationships
and contact points and

all the things we
need to warn the coasts.

We could see that the next
large population that was in

danger was the
east coast of Africa.

I said, "Please get the message
out to the coastal populations."

[speaking in foreign language]

[Barry Hirshorn] Kenya got
the word ahead of the wave

and they did evacuate.

We felt like as least
we did something.

At least hopefully
we saved somebody.

[Eli Fournoy] Millions of
people were waking up to news

of an incredible tragedy.

But quickly, incredible stories
of survival started to emerge,

and our coverage shifted
to the rescue effort.

And the desperate search
of families clinging onto

the hope that their
loved ones survived.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

Captioned by
Cotter Media Group.