The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

JIM LEHRER: Good evening. I'm Jim Lehrer. On the NewsHour tonight, full coverage of the Super Tuesday vote; a Newsmaker interview with Agriculture Secretary Glickman on new organic food rules; and

update from a Red Cross official of the tragic flooding in Mozambique. It all follows our summary of the news this Tuesday.

NEWS SUMMARY

JIM LEHRER: This is Super Tuesday, the day voters in 16 states, including New York and California, help choose the Republican and Democratic candidates for President. Vice President Gore was expected to defeat Bill Bradley in the 15 states with Democratic primaries and caucuses. In the 13 states where there were Republican contests, polls had Governor Bush leading Senator McCain in most. We'll have more on thisstory right after the News Summary. The results from California won't be in until late this evening, but it represents the day's biggest prize. It was also a challenge for voters, with 20 ballot initiatives and a long list of candidates. Spencer Michels reports.

SPENCER MICHELS: Millions of California voters had a daunting exercise in democracy today as they went to the polls from Sausalito to San Francisco and beyond. 23 candidates in seven parties are listed for President. Voters had to fish for their favorite candidate through the list, which isn't alphabetical, it isn't by party. It's random, and varies from one district to another, so as not play favorites. This blanket primary was born in 1996, when voters overwhelmingly passed a law that said any voter can choose any candidate, regardless of party. But immediately, the major parties threatened they wouldn't recognize the results under those rules. In 1999, party leaders got a law passed by the legislature that allowed the parties to count only the votes of registered Democrats in determining delegates in the Democratic presidential primary and the same with the GOP. At stake for John McCain and Texas Governor George W. Bush are 162 Republican delegates in a winner-take-all contest. And the Democrats, Vice President Al Gore and Former Senator Bill Bradley, are pursuing 367 Democratic delegates, which will be divided proportionately. The ballots are color and computer coded, so the computers can tabulate essentially two elections: The one that counts for delegates and the popular vote, called the beauty contest. California voters also had to make up their minds on a plethora of local issues and candidates, plus 20 statewide measures, including a ban on gay marriages, a get-tough-on- juvenile-crime measure, and two propositions legalizing Indian gambling casinos. Many voters accepted the long ballot in stride.

SPOKESMAN: If you've been to third grade you could do it.

WOMAN: I knew who I wanted so it didn't matter. There could have been 150 candidates, you know?

PEOPLE SINGING: Oh there once was a proposition its number was 1-a...

SPENCER MICHELS: The ballot was so long that the non-profit California Voter Foundation mocked it in a song on its web site.

PEOPLE SINGING: It's the proposition song let's all be singing along because the ballot is too darn long.

SPENCER MICHELS: California polls close at 8:00 P.M. Local Time, 11:00 P.M. Eastern Time.

PEOPLE SINGING: There's a whole lot more at calvoter.Org -- we're open all the time.

JIM LEHRER: It was not a Super Tuesday on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 374 points, or more than 3.5%, at 9796. The Blue Chips were hurt by a jump in crude oil prices and an earnings warning by Procter and Gamble. The NASDAQ Index lost 57 points to close at 4847. It crossed the 5000 mark for the first time before falling back. In Mozambique today, the flood relief effort gained momentum. Scores of relief groups and at least 16 countries were involved. U.S. cargo planes, helicopters, and several hundred troops joined in. In Washington, officials at the State Department assessed the long-term damage.

HUGE PARMER, State Department: This is anticipated to set the country back at least a decade. You had a country here that was emerging into Democratic governance, that had the fastest growth rate of any country in the world, economic growth rate, and this has been devastating to their economic infrastructure.

JIM LEHRER: We'll have more on the Mozambique relief effort later in the program tonight. Violenceerupted again today in Kosovo. 16 French peacekeepers and 24 civilians were wounded in the troubled town of Mitrovica. Unidentified attackers threw hand grenades and fired weapons after a street fight between Serbs and ethnic Albanians. There have been repeated ethnic clashes in the town in recent weeks. President Clinton appealed to congressional leaders today to break a stalemate on gun legislation. He met with them at the White House. He said last week's grade-school shooting in Michigan showed the need for action. But Republican and Democratic lawmakers could not agree to resume talks on a compromise bill.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY, (D) Vermont: The decision, in large part, whether we go to conference or not, has been made up to this point has been made by the gun lobbies. They're afraid we might go to conference and actually vote something that makes some sense to the vast majority of the American public. Now, the unfortunate part about this, beyond the signal it sends to everybody in the country that a powerful lobby controls the working of Congress is that we have a very good juvenile justice bill.

SEN. ORRIN HATCH: I can't speak for the NRA or anybody else but we'll just have to see. All I can say is the NRA has been willing to accept trigger locks. And that would be -- that would probably be a step in the right direction. And we would have gotten that through. And some wanted to take political advantage of this and they're glad to have it fouled up.

JIM LEHRER: The major sticking point is a proposed three-day waiting period to buy weapons at gun shows. Most Democrats favor it. Most Republicans support a 24- hour wait. The U.S. Agriculture Department today released new standards for labeling food "organic." They would bar genetic engineering in growing and processing those foods, among other things. Agriculture Secretary Glickman called them the strictest organic rules in the world. They're expected to go into effect later this year. We'll talk to Secretary Glickman later in the program tonight. Some 10,000 people participated in an affirmative action march today in Tallahassee, the capital of Florida. They came to protest against Governor Jeb Bush's one Florida initiative. It bans race preferences in university admissions and state contracts. Bush defended it in his state of the state address today. He said the number of minorities attending Florida's public universities and winning state contracts would actually increase this year. That's it for the News Summary tonight. Now it's on to Super Tuesday, what's organic food, and a Mozambique update.

FOCUS - SUPER TUESDAY

JIM LEHRER: Super Tuesday, the biggest day thus far in the 2000 race for president. The candidates finished their campaigning in the 16-state marathon last night and today. We hear from the four front- runners, beginning with George W. Bush talking with reporters in Austin this morning.

GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: I think primaries can be very healthy. It's made me a better candidate. Losing a couple of primaries was a humbling experience to say the least. The turnouts in our primary have been significant. There's been large numbers of folks coming to vote for either me or Senator McCain or the other candidate for that matter and I think that's good. I think that it shows that our party and our philosophy of the party that's been energized by the process.

REPORTER: What about primaries?

GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: Primaries are tough because we're arguing amongst a political family, but there's going to be ample time to heal wounds that exist and I'm confident we'll be able to do so. No, I'm not going to change my message. Maybe some candi... Maybe Al Gore feels that's the way he campaigns, where you keep changing message, or changing headquarters, or changing suits. I'm going to keep saying the same thing throughout the course of the campaign. The other day the Vice President attacked me on campaign funding, and I reminded America that this man must have amnesia. He must have forgotten where he has been the last seven years. He must have forgotten that he went to a Buddhist temple to raise money from people that made a vow to poverty. He must have forgotten this just this last week, when his close friend who raised money for him was indicted and convicted on campaign funding laws. It's amazing how somebody's memory all of a sudden has lapses, but one of the things I'll do during the course of the campaign is to remind people of what's gone on in the administration for the last seven years. It's the politics of personal destruction. If you don't happen to agree that... This administration... If you don't agree with them on an issue, that they would much rather... They would much rather fight than debate. This is an administration that has divided people into groups, and, so I think it's going to be a very tough campaign. I look forward to it, but first things, first... first things, first. I've got to earn my party's nomination. I know there's kind of a sense that maybe this primary may be ending. I don't view it that way. I'm ready to pack up and head out West, and compete in the second and fourth largest states.

SPOKESMAN: Senator John McCain! (Cheers)

SEN. JOHN McCAIN: Thank you. We are going to send a message from California to the country and to the world that we are taking the government out of the hands of the special interests and the iron triangle, and give it back to the people of this country. Reform is coming. We will reform this government. We will take the 44,000- page tax code and tear it up. We will bust those guys in $1,000 suits that are giving away all the millions of dollars. And one thing we are going to do-- in case you haven't heard about it, and I think you may have-- we are going to tell a couple of sleazy guys from Texas that we don't need their $2.5 million in attack ads to steal an election from the people of California. (Cheers and applause) In case you haven't heard, the Bush campaign in their desperation got two of Governor Bush's cronies down in Texas, who are billionaires, to put $2.5 million into this campaign in the last five days, of attack ads on me. My friends, that has larger implications even than this campaign because it flies in the face of everything that I have fought for, in trying to take politics out of the hands of the special interests. If they can put millions of dollars into this campaign, they can destroy and hijack every campaign. And that's why we have got to send a message, not only to Governor Bush and his Texas cronies, but to America, that California will not allow our elections to be bought by Texans. Take your dirty money and bring it back into Texas. (Cheers and applause) We know that I am the only person that can beat Al Gore, because Governor Bush, after what he and his cronies have done, will stand mute in a debate between him and Al Gore, because of the campaign finance abuses that we have already seen the Bush campaign be involved in.

BILL BRADLEY: You saw the newspaper last week. Economic growth, almost 7%. The last two quarters, 5%. Four years ago, it was 1%. If it continues to grow like this over the next seven to eight years, our economy will be one third to 50% larger than it is today, which means we will be able to do things that we could not do when we were in a politics of scarcity, because we will be in a politics of plenty. And so I ask you, what do you want t do? Now, Eleanor Roosevelt once said that the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. And so I would ask you tonight at Bryant Park, what is your dream for yourself -- for your family -- and for your country? And I would share with you my dream. And my dream begins where people live their lives -- does not begin in some academic setting, does not begin in some high rise, it begins where people live their lives. There are still nearly 14 million children in this country who live in poverty. There are still 44 million Americans without any health insurance, 35 million Americans, one or two premium increases away from losing their health insurance. The Secretary of Education said a couple weeks ago there are 250,000 teachers in our classrooms who are unqualified, quick math, teaching six million of our children. And last year 800,000 kids took a gun to school at least one day and 13 kids were killed every day of the year last year, a Columbine everyday. So what is your dream? My dream is that we can take this moment and do things that need to be done: To strengthen our social fabric, to make us stronger as a country. And we all know that if we do these things, we will be stronger. And so now we come, the night before. We remember Harry Truman -- the night before he was elected President of the United States, and people said, "you're never going to win, you're never going to win." But he believed he could win because he knew who he was, what he believed in, and where he wanted to take the country. It's now the night before Super Tuesday. And with your help, we'll go out and tomorrow New York will send the most powerful message across the country that we want a new politics, a new day. And if my dream is your dream, let's make it our dream. Thank you very much.

AL GORE: In the midst of this prosperity, I see a lot of good people who are still struggling to get by, balance work and family, struggling to pay the bills -- in some cases struggling to find a job where they can pay the bills. It's not supposed to be that way especially not in the midst of this prosperity. When I see a first grader bring a loaded gun to school and kill another first grader, all of us know it's not supposed to be that way. We need child safety trigger locks in this country, we need common sense measures to get these weapons away from children and people who shouldn't have them. When I see babies born addicted to crack cocaine, it's not supposed to be that way. And you can pick your own examples of families that are having trouble finds housing where they can pay the rent, families that are still hungry in this time of plenty. But, you know, the flip side of that is that we also have the capacity because of our freedoms to know when it is supposed to be the way we are intended to live in this country. It's almost like that old children's game, you're getting warmer, you're getting colder. We know when we're getting warmer. For the last seven years, we've been getting warmer. We've been heading in the right direction. We need to keep heading in the right direction. And we need to pick up speed and go to higher ground and lift all of our people up. Done correctly the job of President is a day-by-day fight for real people who face real challenges and who need a champion. The position of President is the only position in the Constitution where the individual who has it is charged with the responsibility of fighting not just for one state or one district or one group or the connected or the influential a President who does it right is given the sacred responsibility to fight for all of the people, including the downtrodden and those who most need a champion -- minorities, the poor, working families, middle-income families. I want to fight for you! I want to fight for St. Louis! I want to fight for your family! I want to fight for America! I want to fight for your future! Thank you! I want your votes tomorrow!

JIM LEHRER: We'll have full coverage and analysis of Super Tuesday later tonight on most public television stations. Please check your listings for the time in your area.

FOCUS - ORGANIC STANDARDS

JIM LEHRER: Now, defining what's organic, and to Gwen Ifill.

GWEN IFILL: For years, health food stores had the market cornered on organically grown foods. But consumer demand, coupled with the potential for corporate profit, has now made it mainstream. Sales of fruits, vegetables, and other organic products are expected to total more than $7 billion this year. And by 2003, that figure will jump to $13 billion. Industry researchers say that about a third of U.S. consumers already buy some kind of organic food but what's organic, and what's not? That's been the subject of industry debate, as well as consumer confusion. The U.S. Agriculture Department found that out when it first proposed an organic standard in 1997. Critics attacked the agency on a number of fronts, including a decision to consider allowing genetically modified ingredients in food sold with the organic label. Today the agency revisited the issue, releasing new regulations that would be the first-ever national standard for organic products. The rule unveiled today would allow raw products to carry the "organic" label if they are 100% organic, and not made with hormones, pesticides, or synthetic fertilizer. Processed foods could carry the label if made from 95% organic ingredients. And in a bow to critics, the new rules would prevent the use of genetically modified ingredients. Irradiation, a process used to kill bacteria and pathogens like e. Coli, would also be prohibited in food carrying the organic label, as would the use of sludge, or reprocessed sewage, as a fertilizer. Today's decision drew praise from the organic farming industry.

KATHERINE DiMATTEO, Organic Trade Association: I think today is the day to celebrate for all of the organic industry, both processors and handlers and farmers of organic products. We have been waiting a long time for this rule, ten years as a matter of fact. We should be happy today. I think, from what I've heard so far, this is a rule that we can embrace and be happy with.

GWEN IFILL: But the proposal was not without its critics, including those who say genetically modified food is safe.

MICHAEL PHILLIPS, Biotechnology Industry Organization: There is quite a an indirect attempt by the organic community to indicate that these products are safer and that they are more nutritious than foods produced through more traditional means, and there is no basis in fact for that.

GWEN IFILL: The rule could take effect by the end of the year.

GWEN IFILL: With us now is the man who issued the new rules, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman. Welcome Mr. Secretary.

The last time you proposed these rules in 1997, they were kind of summarily thrown back in your face. So you've come back with a new set of stricter, tougher rules. What changed?

DAN GLICKMAN, Secretary of Agriculture: Well, these are the toughest rules until the world for organic agriculture. And the big change is that we disallowed what we called the big three. When we last proposed the rules, we left open the question of whether you could use irradiation or industrial sludge as a fertilizer or genetically modified organisms as part of the organic product. We heard loud and clear from over 275,000 different comments, which is one of the largest public comment exercises ever done in the history of the government, we heard they did not want that. And so our rules do not permit any of those things. And they've changed a bit from what we had before. But by and large we have support of the organic food industry.

GWEN IFILL: So do we have more science to support this or is it the public outcry in the industry?

DAN GLICKMAN: I think it's public outcry. This is not a food safety rule. We are not saying organic food is any safer than conventional food. These are marketing rules, that the USDA is basically by putting its sign and certificate, they're saying these foods are produced in a natural way without synthetic additives to it. It's the same thing we do when we grade meat - we grade US prime, USDA choice, USDA select. We give people an understanding of what those terms mean so the consumer is given a clear understanding of what they're buying. That's exactly what we're doing here. But this is not a science-based system that is done for food safety reasons at all.

GWEN IFILL: When I buy meat with that USDA sticker on it, I think it is safe. People who buy organic food do think it's healthy -

DAN GLICKMAN: Well, let me put it to you like this: The USDA doesn't inspect the meat. That's a separate function, so all meat in this country is inspected. USDA does meat and poultry inspections. But we also put grading on meats. That's where the prime select choice, we grade eggs based upon the size; those are done as a marketing tool for people so that consumers will know what they are. These organic rules are not safety rules, they are marketing rules. All food in this country has to make certain basic tests and certainly food that's sold as organic will have to meet the same tests as conventional foods will.

GWEN IFILL: Over the years the reason why genetically-modified foods have caught fire is because they were also sold pas being kind of healthier and not necessarily pesticides free but the pesticides made it more disease free. Isn't it possible some of these genetically modified foods have improved on Mother Nature?

DAN GLICKMAN: Well, it's possible. But again, as a marketing tool, the organic food industry wanted to make sure that when people go out and see the word "organic" that it has a clear set of standards what it means and we know that it clearly cannot included genetically engineered organisms. Now I happen to be a fan of genetic engineering, and I think it's going to have great promise to feeding the world in a sustainable, friendly way, but those are separate issues dealing with conventional foods and they don't affect the certification standards we're putting on organic foods.

GWEN IFILL: What do people see on the supermarket now, an organic sticker that says USDA approved?

DAN GLICKMAN: Right now they don't see anything.

GWEN IFILL: What will they see -

DAN GLICKMAN: They'll see an organic sticker that may be 100% organic, it may say organic, it may say made with organic products, or it may have nothing on there, except on the side where certain of the ingredients are organic, depending upon the percentage of organic materials in there. But right now you can go in and a product can say organic and it could be 2 percent organic, or 0 percent organic.

GWEN IFILL: What's to stop the producer for putting them on anyway?

DAN GLICKMAN: There will be some standards here, and there will be some penalties here for producers who put things on there that are not accurate. But for the most part right now the consumers have no knowledge that anybody is looking at anything that is being sold that says organic to make sure that it is.

GWEN IFILL: Are you setting the bar so high now that farmers who are able to say do mostly organic kind of product are not going to be able to compete or be able to qualify for that sticker?

DAN GLICKMAN: Well, these are pretty strict standards. We're going to have 90 days of further comment period from the public where folks will be able to comment and to determine whether there are some changes that we need to make in these basic rules. But largely what we have done here is this: The organic food industry, which is a rapidly growing part of agriculture and a very profitable part of agriculture, came to us and said we basically think we have a market here, there's a lot of reasons why consumers like our products. It may be because they like natural product, they may like products that are environmentally positive, using less pesticides, whatever their reasons, and we need to you do what you do with grading of meat, grading of eggs, we need you to regulate the label on how a product is manufactured. It's a process is what we're labeling. If the farmer complies with a certain process, he will get the certificate on there. And we think that this can be a very profitable and effective part of U.S. Agriculture.

GWEN IFILL: When you talk about the marketing of it, isn't part of your concern as well marketing it abroad, trade concerns with Europe, where their standards are much more strict than even what you're proposing to do.

DAN GLICKMAN: In the organic area we're stricter than the Europeans are. They have 70 percent on organic and we will go basically to 95 percent standard on there.

GWEN IFILL: That will improve our ability to trade?

DAN GLICKMAN: I think we're seeing the organic market grow in the world, so it will make it easier for U.S. organic farmers and that is going to grow considerably in the years to come for us to be able to sell products overseas.

GWEN IFILL: Is science ahead of the curve in some ways on American public opinion on the question of whether say irradiated food is good or bad?

DAN GLICKMAN: I would say this, there is no question, the public is concerned about food safety. And the public generally has confidence in the FDA and USDA and other food safety agencies but the science is moving ahead very, very quickly in these areas. And it's up to us to make sure the public has accurate information about food safety issues.

GWEN IFILL: Are people right to be concerned about those issues? And is that something that you as the Department of Agriculture can even address?

DAN GLICKMAN: People are very right to be concerned about food safety issues. It's one of the top issues on people's mind. In this country people have pretty good confidence that their food is safe. And we have the safest food in the world, in my judgment. But we need to keep dong better. That's what we're trying to at the FDA and USDA through a science-based food inspection system. I go back to what organic does. Organic is not a food safety issue, although some people, they might think it is, or they might think using less pesticides or less synthetic things on their food is a positive thing. But it gives consumers an additional choice, an informed choice about a food that they may want to buy. And it also helps agriculture. Right now small and medium sized farmers are having a terrible problem surviving in this country and around the world. This is a way for the farmer to get a higher share of the consumer dollar without having to give more of it to the manufacturer or other parts of agriculture.

GWEN IFILL: I hate to keep coming back to the food safety issue, but when people think about foods and what the government's role is in regulating foods, they think about things like e.Coli and salmonella. What you're proposing what not change government regulation that would stop those diseases at all.

DAN GLICKMAN: It doesn't change them at all. Again, we primarily deal with meat and poultry, USDA. All of that is inspected and it will continue to be inspected. And, in fact, we're having some real success in reducing the amount of salmonella in both meat and poultry.

GWEN IFILL: Frito Lay, a big food producer of snack foods, announced I guess it was last month that they were going to ask their growers to try to use organically grown materials. Does that make a difference? Or is that just a kind of -- is that a PR thing or is that something -

DAN GLICKMAN: Right now there's a lot of concern and confusion about genetically modified organisms out there. The Europeans are having some resistance to them, and that's causing some concerns with large food manufacturers about selling product. After all, Frito Lay, if it sells its potato chips or Fritos, whatever they sell, overseas, they want to make sure there's a market there for them, and so because of the European resistance to genetically modified organisms, there is some attempt on their part and others to go to using either organic or non GMO corn or whatever products they use in their food. But I think ultimately this is going to settle out. Most people are going to believe that genetically modified organisms can be safe and effective and nutritious and also environmentally positive. But there will also be a group of people who want non-synthetic or natural foods to eat. And that's what we're trying to do here is to make sure the market is clear and they have the ability to sell these products at home and around the world.

GWEN IFILL: If, indeed, companies like Frito Lay, we hate to beat up on one manufacturer but a company like Frito Lay sees that it's in their marketing interest to make these adjustments, what's the need for government regulation?

DAN GLICKMAN: Well, again, I should have said this in the beginning. The need is Congress orders us to do this. Now, let me say this: A lot of people are both positive and critical to what we're doing. But in 1990 the Congress passed a bill, I was in the Congress then, I think I voted for this bill, that mandated that the Department of Agriculture come up with organic standards. We're not just doing this on our own. The Congress, the efforts of Senator Leahy and others decided this is what they wanted to do to grow a new market in agriculture. So, it's taken us a long ten years. I had more hair when I started this process than I do right now. It's taken us a long time but we're finally getting there.

GWEN IFILL: Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, thank you very much.

DAN GLICKMAN: You're welcome, Gwen.

JIM LEHRER: Still to come on the NewsHour tonight, a Mozambique update.

UPDATE - DEADLY FLOODS

JIM LEHRER: The Mozambique flood tragedy: We begin our coverage with a report from Robert Moore of Independent Television News.

ROBERT MOORE: On a tiny inflatable boat almost lost in the vast floodwaters, a team of local officials set out to try and find their village -- a community that appears to have vanished without trace. Immediately they run into problems, having to bail out water. And instead, they become stranded in a neighboring village of Margomahani. It, too, lies utterly devastated and despite the receding waters, it is largely submerged. Out here vast sways of the Limpopo River Valley remain under water and inaccessible. But to our astonishment we spotted one family still living utterly marooned in the trees. They appeared to be hiding and were terrified, taking refuge in the hollow of the tree. We called in rescue forces to pluck them to safety, but by tonight no one had reached this spot. Slowly on the tiny islands of high ground emerging from the ware, the survivors of this disaster are trying against all the odds to rebuild their life. Their best and perhaps only hope is the accelerating international aid effort.

JIM LEHRER: Some people have returned to their villages. Lindsey Hilsum of Independent Television news reports from one of them.

LINDSEY HILSUM: This was one of the smartest houses in Chockway. It's owned by a local government official. Hard to imagine people living here, watching television, cooking, sleeping. Who knows how long it will take to clear up the mess. They are paying these women the equivalent of three pounds each to do the job. Such work is welcomed. Vilijimana Mashava is a widow with four children. Her flimsy house was almost swept away by the surge of water which hit this town. She and her family are virtually destitute now.

WOMAN: (speaking through interpreter) I don't have any food. I'm sleeping on the street now because I don't have a house. My house is badly damaged. I'm doing this work so I can make a bit of money to buy some food.

LINDSEY HILSUM: There was a little food for sale in Chockway this morning, but prices have doubled. The traders have to bring it in from a nearby town which escaped flooding, but the road is only just being mended and transport is scarce. Many of Chockway's men leave here to work in the gold fields of South Africa. We walked into town and found some miners' wives scavenging for rotting rice. They haven't been able to contact their husbands, they said of they have no money, their babies have been sick with fever and diarrhea. But they'll get by as best they can. A public health announcement: Don't drink the water, purification tablets will be provided. The man with the megaphone is from the governing party, Filimo. People seem to be coping alone or with a little help from foreigners. More rain is predicted so aid workers have advised people not to return home until the weather's settled. But there's already been some looting in Chockway, so anyone with anything in their house wants to be there to protect it. The people are going home -- no matter how difficult the journey. No matter what they might find when they get there.

JIM LEHRER: Earlier today Margaret Warner spoke with a relief official in Mozambique.

MARGARET WARNER: For an assessment of how the relief effort is going, we turn to Christopher Thomas, a disaster and communications official for the American Red Cross, one of the many private relief groups aiding flood victims in Mozambique. He joins us from the capital, Maputo.

We here there are a million people in need of aid in Mozambique right now. Where are they and what kind of conditions are they living in?

CHRISTOPHER THOMAS: The floodwaters that raged through Mozambique caused enormous devastation and destruction, covering some 30% of the country in water. Imagine if 30% of the United States was flooded. It's just immense. Some 250,000 people are displaced, and they're gathered in some 68 makeshift camps in many different regions. The American Red Cross, in cooperation with several national societies, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cross societies flew into some of the hardest-hit areas, Chibuto and Chichi, the other day to provide a detailed assessment, and also to set up distribution systems. And what we saw was terrible: People living out in the open on the ground, without shelter, without adequate food, no medical supplies, people bathing and drinking the stagnant, polluted water. It really was disturbing.

MARGARET WARNER: And what percentage of these displaced people would you say are children?

CHRISTOPHER THOMAS: You know in the riverbank camp in Chibuto, we were greeted by hundreds and hundreds of small children. Many families in this area and maybe through Mozambique are very large, and some of the families have six to ten children, ranging from the ages of newborns to 12 years old. And the young are so susceptible to disease, and, you know, nutrition is very important. And getting, you know, food and clean water and medicines to all the affected areas is vital.

MARGARET WARNER: Now we just saw a tape that showed at least one family still stranded in a tree with the water still up. Are there still a lot of people left in the trees or are these isolated spots of high ground?

CHRISTOPHER THOMAS: Yes, we did a low-level fly- over in several areas, and found hundreds of people who have decided to shelter in place and homestead in the hopes that the floodwaters will recede. They have refused search and rescue, and in fact, we can see them going underneath the water to retrieve crops and then bring them out to dry. I can't imagine how they're surviving in such terrible conditions, but they are. And you can understand people wanting to stay near their homes and hoping that the floodwaters will recede so they can go back to their normal lives. And planting season begins April 1, and so this is a vital time for these people.

MARGARET WARNER: But when you say homestead in place, do you mean they're literally homesteading in the trees?

CHRISTOPHER THOMAS: Many, many people had built makeshift homes within trees. And there are several areas that dot the terrain that are not covered by water, and they found their way there. And we saw, gathered, groups of two to fifteen.

MARGARET WARNER: So give us a sense of how much food aid and clean water aid you need every day to get to these people.

CHRISTOPHER THOMAS: Well, the World Food Program was delivering, I believe, 120 metric tons of food to the affected people. You know, the Red Cross today airlifted much-needed supplies: Tents, and tarps, and kitchen sets, and jerry cans into three of the hardest-hit areas: Mesia, Chocilana, and Chokwe. And tomorrow, we're going back into Chibutu, where we provided the detail assessment.. And while we were there, we met with the village elders, and the community leaders, and the people who were affected, and got their support to help in the distribution method, because many supplies are here, but unless you set up a distribution mechanism, people won't have the food or the clean water. And we're going in tomorrow, being ferried by helicopter, with much-needed supplies and we'll be working with the local beneficiaries to displace people to ensure that aid... their aid requirements are met, and the most vulnerable are taken care of.

MARGARET WARNER: All right, tell us a little more about the difficulties in distribution. Do you have to do most of this by air? Do you have the helicopters you need? And do you have the logistics on the ground to get it to people?

CHRISTOPHER THOMAS: Well, it's been a very difficult process, with so many people affected, with so many overwhelming and immediate needs, it has been challenging. But there's a large contingent here of airplanes and helicopters from across the world, and they are providing airlift service, and we are utilizing it, and I know many other agencies are, as well. And as we flew into Chibuto yesterday, we saw dozens of helicopters and other planes flying into other areas with assessment teams and relief supplies. So while the aid might not be reaching the people as quickly as we would like, we understand that there's an urgent need to get supplies in many areas. We are moving very fast, considering the circumstances.

MARGARET WARNER: What is the health situation?

CHRISTOPHER THOMAS: That, you know... there is cause for grave concern. Many of the people, as I said, are drinking and bathing in polluted and terrible water. And we've seen outbreaks, we've seen cases of cholera, and malaria, and conjunctivitis. And, you know, cholera is endemic through many of the regions here, so it is a very sharp concern, but at the same time, there has not been a sharp rise in the number of cases that would lead people to believe that there's an epidemic on hand. But believe me, the conditions are ripe for one. And it's taking a coordinated effort to ensure that the medicines reach the most vulnerable of the people in all the affected areas.

MARGARET WARNER: How much of a window time-wise do you think you have, that is, to get at least clean water and some food to people and some medicines, before the health situation would become really serious?

CHRISTOPHER THOMAS: Well, again, we're working daily with relief flights going out, and providing these supplies. Today we had flights going into three different areas. Tomorrow we will continue that. We have water sanitation engineers going through, province by province, to determine how to rehabilitate the water sources and to identify new water sources. Whether it's distributing chlorine tablets or digging new wells, they're working very hard. Many of the people here in Mozambique are used to having poor water, and their immune systems are very high, so that might also explain why there hasn't been, necessarily, an outbreak or epidemic of sorts, because they are so used to having poor water quality. But we're going to work very hard with Mozambique Red Cross society, and many of the other societies, the national societies here, like the Germans, and the British, and the Canadians, and the Dutch, to make sure that there are clean water systems and people have access to clean water throughout the affected areas.

MARGARET WARNER: I know you're right in the middle of this, and you may not be able to answer this question, but do you know what it is you all still need from the international community that you don't have enough of?

CHRISTOPHER THOMAS: Well, I believe the international community has been very forthright, and there are many supplies here. The American Red Cross is sending a plane load of supplies from Atlanta this week filled with tents and jerry cans and clean-up kits. And the clean-up kits will be absolutely vital during this process. And with so many people displaced without shelter, these tropical tents are going to be invaluable, as well. So, you know, we're getting the supplies here. The best way people can help is with financial contributions. This is a very extensive effort that's going to take months, and possibly even years. Right now we're still in the emergency phase. We're not even talking about the rehabilitation phase. So I would urge Americans to make a financial contribution by calling 1-800-HELP-NOW, and earmarking their donations to the American Red Cross International Response Fund for Mozambique.

MARGARET WARNER: We also understand that the U.N. relief agencies on the ground are urging these displaced people not to try to go home, at least if they lived in the flood zone. Can you explain why, and are people complying with that?

CHRISTOPHER THOMAS: Well, many people want to go home, they want to see what, you know, what's left of their homes, they want to get on with their lives. Floodwaters are receding in many areas, but that said, it's still not safe. There are heavy rains hitting Mozambique today, the rains hitting in Zimbabwe for the rivers that flow eastward will flow into the, you know, already saturated tributaries. And the tropical storm, now downgraded, that hit South Africa might surge waters northward. So we're still not out of the woods. And this is the rainy season. We can expect more rain. So it's very advisable for people not to go back yet, or they could get swept in floods. I was talking with one woman who said the flash floods caught her family so much by surprise that when she opened her front door, the waters carried her and her family outside of her home. So we have to be very careful about, you know, having people go back to their homes, or to where they used to live, before it's safe.

MARGARET WARNER: All right, well, Christopher Thomas, thank you so much, and good luck.

CHRISTOPHER THOMAS: Thank you for having me.

RECAP

JIM LEHRER: Again, the other major stories of this Tuesday. Voters in 16 states, including New York and California, were choosing Republican and Democratic candidates for President. And the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 3.5% and fell below the 9800 mark. We'll be back on many public television stations later this evening, and again here at our regular time tomorrow, with coverage and analysis of the Super Tuesday results. We'll also see you online. I'm Jim Lehrer. Thank you, and good night.