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Anderson Cooper: Uh! There is still a very long way to go and there are so much anger, so much frustration, CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour. You, I mean the level, I don't think people outside who aren't here get it. I mean every week, every all this week, we've been listening to politicians and people talking about, "well, look, if you are looking for your loved one, well, you can log on to a website or you can call a toll-free number. There's no phones here, there's no, no one can log on to a website.
Christiane Amanpour: I think one of those things I've found so extraordinary today was following a young girl who was looking for seven of her family members who are still missing in what's called the lake front part of this town, right near the lake that had bursted its banks, and obviously that place is still under water, but to cut it short, we asked police, we asked the sheriff, we asked troopers, we asked the fire people, any officials we could find. There was simply no information and no, no way to get the information as you say, everybody has cell phones but many of the cell networks aren't working,(Right.) people don't have batteries. There aren't designated phones that have been set up by x or y corporation, (I, I don't) information is a big problem.
Anderson Cooper: I don't, you would think somebody's cooperation, or somebody would come and stand on the street corner with a satellite phone and announcing "you know what, you can make a call to your loved one." But there people don't, who cannot tell their loved one that they are even alive. I'm sure, I'm sure it happened to you. We people all the time coming up to us, asking us to use a satellite phone and as much as possible as we give it away, I mean every one of those calls is heartbreaking. I mean, literally everyone, you know, grown men are weeping on the phone when they said to their loved ones, you know "I'm alive", and it's, people hand you notes, saying, "please say on the air my name, tell my mom, you know, maybe my mom will see I'm still alive, it's… "
Christiane Amanpour: And, well, I mean you are right when we were looking for this girl's family, there was a body on the street that had been just left there. It had been wrapped respectfully by whoever found it, but left there, wrapped in a sheet. And the first reaction of this girl was, well, is it a Vietnamese like I'm, could it be my family, is it the black American?(Right.) Who is it? People standing around, nobody knew, nobody knew what to do with it. I tell you, you know, coming from overseas here and having covered so much of this kind of thing overseas. The reaction overseas towards what's happening here is extraordinarily so much disbelief, (Disbelief. Yeah.) people just don't believe this is America ( yeah.well,) where were the troops in the early days? We talked to emergency service people today, who basically out now say that from the very first there should have been air lifts, there should've been troops deployed. People should've been here to keep order at least at the very beginning.
Anderson Cooper: Well, you know, it's funny that people would say from overseas that you are talking to are saying is this America? 'cause I was just away from Mississippi for a couple of days', and the people there are saying, "Is this United States of America?" Because I mean, sort of doesn't look like it, and aren't we supposed to, you know, I mean, just in this world of instant communications , it's extraordinary that you can't even call your loved one and tell them you are alive. I don't get it.
Christiane Amanpour: And, and certainly overseas people are questioning policies that could may be exacerbated this, you know, the lack of big government, all the National Guards troops, about a third of the Louisiana and Mississippi ones are out in Iraq, these things make a difference, these people who are experts in many cases of emergency service…
Anderson Cooper: Attention, I've asked a politician, a senator of that in the United States, said that is this because National Guards troops are in Iraq, and he said "well I suppress a question on the press are asking. And I am like, I said to him, you know, Sir, respectfully, that's not a question our press are asking. That's a question of a man named Charles Kerry is asking, who's standing at the rubble of his home, and literally asked me to ask the senator that. Because whether or not, that's for sure, I... people, want answers and they don't feel like they are getting any answers, and it's very, you know, it's almost a week now, and it's very frustrating for them.
Christiane Amanpour: Well, that was so incredible that it is a week and people are still not finding answers, much less finding bodies still.
Anderson Cooper: And yet, everyday there are people, I mean, there are, you know, state and local federal people down here working around the clock, incredibly hard, and not doing it with, you know, a great amount of organization and support, they are just going out, you know, picking their missions there themselves. They're making up their missions society, you know what, let's not wait for order , let's just go and do it ,that of course are seen all the time.
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