Indonesia Earthquakes; India Flooding; 89 South Koreans Are In the North Korea for Brief Reunions
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Families finally coming together after decades apart. Some lucky people on the Korean Peninsula get to reunite with their loved ones. Thousands of people still trapped and rescue teams scrambling as Kerala, India, struggles with its most devastating flooding in decades. And this lavish exhibit might have Banksy written all over it but the mysterious artist is sharing his outrage instead. These stories are all ahead here. Thank you, everyone, for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen, coming to you live from Atlanta and this is CNN NEWSROOM.</s>ALLEN: Our top story: for a few lucky South Koreans, the day they had hoped for but feared would never come is finally here; 89 South Koreans are now in North Korea for reunions with loved ones they have not seen in decades. Thousands of families were separated when the Korean War broke out in 1950. These reunions will be brief, just three days, but it could be the last chance for these elderly Koreans to see their relatives. Our Paula Hancocks joins us now from Seoul, South Korea. Just seeing people on buses makes you excited for what they're about to experience -- Paula.</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Natalie, there has been a huge amount of excitement from these participants, as you say, they have now crossed into North Korea. Within a couple of hours, they should have their first session with their family members. It's very choreographed. It's very well organized. So there's only certain hours of the next three days they'll be able to sit down with family members that they have not seen in decades. We spoke to one lady who was going to see her nephew and she said it was a bittersweet experience.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).</s>HANCOCKS: So these family members will be reunited for just three days and then they'll come back on Wednesday, knowing they're very unlikely to see those family members again. But they are considered among the lucky ones; 89 families are going as part of this first round of the reunions; 57,000 were up for consideration. So it just shows you how it's a drop in the ocean, a tiny fraction of those who want to be reunited with family members, who are actually lucky enough for this to happen. Now I spoke to the head of the Red Cross here in South Korea. He said he is pushing for more of these reunions and he's pushing to make sure there's more than just 89 people within each reunion. He wants to find different ways of getting these families together and also to make sure that they can stay in touch afterwards. This is what he had to say.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Imagine, 73 years long without knowing whether their family members are still alive or passed away. No news</s>HANCOCKS: So certainly a very emotional time for those families involved in this round of reunions and a tragic example of just how this is a race against time, to try and bring as many families together as possible. Four of those families who were supposed to be part of this first round had to pull out in the past few days because of worsening health. The majority of people who are applying to see their family members are in their 80s and their 90s. So it is definitely a race against time -- Natalie.</s>ALLEN: All right. We look forward to hearing more about this reunion as it takes place. Paula Hancocks, thank you so much. There are signs a cease-fire could be getting under way in Afghanistan. President Ashraf Ghani announced a deal on Sunday to mark the Islamic Eid al-Adha holiday. If the Taliban agrees, the truce could last three months. It's still not clear how the militant group will react. It's not formally accepted but says it will release hundreds of --</s>ALLEN: -- prisoners for the holiday. Last week, the Taliban was sending a very different message. Its failed offensive on the city of Ghazni reportedly killed hundreds of people. Another powerful earthquake is rattling some already jittery nerves in Indonesia.</s>ALLEN (voice-over): See the shaking right here with this camera. A 6.9 magnitude quake struck Sunday, sending people running from buildings. That island still reeling from a devastating quake that killed more than 430 people two weeks ago.</s>ALLEN: Two other tremors shook the South Pacific Sunday but fortunately there are no reports of major damage or injuries.</s>ALLEN (voice-over): Right here, you're seeing a child being rescued by helicopter in the Indian state of Kerala. Water levels are slowly receding in the worst floods there in nearly a century. But the threat is not over. Thousands remain trapped or stranded. The death toll has increased to 391 since the monsoon season began in May. And officials fear there could be an outbreak of disease among the more than 800,000 people staying in shelters.</s>ALLEN: The recovery ahead could prove overwhelming for Kerala and its 33 million people. Our Alexandra Field is following the story from Hong Kong. Alex, yes, 33 million people and most of that state is under water. It does seem overwhelming, doesn't it?</s>ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this really is a major effort now not only to do the cleanup and to assess the damage but also to rescue all those who are still stranded. That's an operation that officials are hoping they can wrap up today, reaching people who are still out there on their rooftops or even inside those flooded buildings.</s>FIELD (voice-over): Rescuers can only reach the most desperate by boat and by air, people left stranded by raging waters by the thousands.</s>CHRISTOPHER JOSEPH, FLOOD VICTIM: No houses left here, no houses left here. Almost all the houses are flooded. It's currently 4 feet water has come down in this particular place. And when we get inside, still you can't walk. You need a boat or something like that.</s>FIELD (voice-over): Emergency workers among them, the Indian Air Force and the National Disaster Response Force must navigate the washed out roads to deliver supplies, a hand, any help they can give.</s>DHARAMBIR SINGH, ASSISTANT COMMANDANT, NATIONAL DISASTER RESPONSE FORCE: On the day we were deployed here and -- the situation was very horrifying. Almost 10 feet to 6 feet and you can find water everywhere. There are water</s>FIELD (voice-over): The Indian state of Kerala is now a disaster zone. Food is airdropped to those who can't be reached, the injured and traumatized taken to hospitals. Days of deadly landslides and flash floods brought devastation worse than any they've seen before, even here.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The thing is, right now, the flood which we are experiencing right now is horrible. We never had such a chaos situation. Every flat, every house is filled in the water.</s>FIELD: Hundreds of thousands who have reached shelters are still in need.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The thing is, there's no toilet over here, OK? There's nothing, no sanitation, basic sanitation thing over here. There's no drinking water over here. We have no drinking water. The water issue is the primary -- that's also a primary concern.</s>FIELD (voice-over): Every year, millions of tourists visit Kerala, drawn by its rivers, its natural beauty. Its natural disaster has now claimed hundreds of lives.</s>FIELD: And, Natalie, those pictures are really images of some of the worst flooding in that region in some 100 years. The damages are estimated to cost almost $3 billion. But the priority right now is on freeing up resources and getting them to the people who are in need. We're talking about essential items, like oxygen in some cases, medicine, food, fuel and, of course, water to stop the spread of disease -- Natalie.</s>ALLEN: Absolutely. Alex, thank you.</s>ALLEN: Another bombshell development could soon hit Washington. Donald Trump's longtime fixer may be criminally charged within days. We'll take a look at what that might mean for the U.S. president. Also, what Twitter is doing to stop hate speech on its platform. Ahead here, a conversation with the CEO.