[Andria Hall, Cnn Anchor:] How are emergency crews getting food and supplies where they are needed most? Well, joining us with some answers and more on the crisis in Mozambique is Peter Bell. He is the president of the relief organization CARE USA, which is involved in the effort in Mozambique. Sir, thank you for taking the time to come and talk with us.
[Peter Bell, President, Care Usa:] I'm glad to be here.
[Hall:] Aid relief is a process-by-process phase-by-phase process. What phase are you at now?
[Bell:] The immediate, the heroic rescue, is just coming to an end, and we're getting into the emergency relief phase. And then increasingly we'll be getting into rehabilitation.
[Hall:] Now, this tragedy has been dubbed enormous by proportion. How do you get your arms around the elephant?
[Bell:] You just can't get your arms around it. It's huge. The only thing that I've seen in recent years that's comparable to it is what occurred in Central America with Hurricane Mitch.
[Hall:] Now, I understand that CARE has had a presence in Mozambique since 1986, so you've really seen this country grow incrementally. How far will this flooding set the country back?
[Bell:] This will be a tremendous setback, and it's really very, very sad, because for 16 years Mozambique went through a horrendous civil war in which a million people were killed. And for the last several years, since 1992, the country has been at peace. Last year, the economy actually grew by 10 percent from a very low base. But now this is an enormous setback.
[Hall:] And what you're looking at is really people just just hanging on to survive. We heard from Catherine Bond that there are issues of fuel, of clean water, of even encampments. What what are you going to do now to try to facilitate those particular issues?
[Bell:] Well, there are up to a million people who have just been totally wiped out. Most of those people have nothing today. So now we will work with them. CARE will work initially to provide food. We will concentrate over to coming weeks and months also in providing sanitation and clean water and taking preventive measures so that infectious diseases and epidemics don't set in.
[Hall:] And this is important. How can people help CARE? Hope can people help the people of Mozambique?
[Bell:] People could help most by making a donation to CARE at 1- 800-521-CARE or through our Web site, www.care.org.
[Hall:] Peter Bell, we wish you the best in your efforts there.
[Bell:] Thank you very much. We're going all out. It's a horrendous situation.
[Hall:] Thank you so much.