Good evening. I'm Sam Champion from WABC TV in New York. Larry has the night off tonight.

We're going to take you all around this disaster. We've got several interviews tonight that will go into the area. We'll tell you what's going on now, we'll talk about the disaster efforts, the relief efforts to help. But we'll also answer some questions that have popped up in the past couple of days about avoidance, this kind of thing, is it possible in other areas.

We're very fortunate tonight to have the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, with us. We'll get a chance to really ask him some questions that he hasn't been able to be asked yet. So let's talk to him first. Mr. Secretary-General, are you with us tonight?

SG: Yes, I am here. I can hear you.

Q: I'm glad you're there.

You know, we hear numbers. And today some of the news reports were of 60,000, 50,000. CNN is reporting 33,000. What are the numbers? How do we know what they are? Has this entire area been surveyed yet?

SG: I think we have a good idea as to what the numbers are. But of course, as you gain access to more remote areas, you will discover more bodies. And so I think it's going to go higher than the 40,000 that people are talking about at the moment.

Q: Can you give me your idea -- you certainly know more about it than most we will talk about as the overall view -- or most we will talk to. So what's your estimate here?

SG: Well, I hesitate to give you an estimate. But I think there's going to be thousands, thousands, if not tens of thousands more than the figure that is generally being used now.

Q: Now, everyone is rating this disaster. It's something that we tend to do when something terrible happens. We kind of look to rank it in other disasters that we're familiar with. How will this one go down?

SG: This is a huge disaster. And I have been profoundly touched and saddened by the loss of life and the destruction. And, of course, I've had the chance to offer my condolence to the leaders of the countries concerned, for the governments and the peoples concerned. I think this is a huge disaster which has affected eight, nine countries. And the cleanup and the reconstruction is going to be enormous. And we need to be careful and ensure that we have all that we need to ensure that there are no health problems, no epidemics that will lead to further loss of life.

Q: Now, you've spoken with every one of the leaders that are involved in this disaster. What are they telling you?

SG: Well, I think they were all struck by the suddenness of the disaster because this is a phenomenon they haven't seen in their region for a long time, and obviously, were quite unprepared for it. But the needs are enormous. They need food. They need clean water. They need shelter. They need medication. And as the World Health Organization has indicated, we need to begin worrying immediately about the non-food items, sanitation, clean water, to ensure that epidemics do not set in. And so they need lots of help and are looking to the international community to respond and respond generously.

Q: And sir, let me ask you about that. Now, what's the United Nations' role in this? Is it just a bunch of mass efforts, private efforts, military efforts all running in together, or is there someone spearheading this so that there's some kind of organization? What's your role here?

SG: We have sent disaster coordination teams into these countries, and we try to coordinate the national, international and the regional efforts. My humanitarian emergency coordinator, Jan Egeland, is spearheading the efforts. And we do work with all the U.N. agencies -- they are all mobilized -- our NGO partners, the Red Cross and Red Crescent, and with the governments. I think the coordination

becomes absolutely essential to make sure that you get the items you need, and everybody is aware of who's doing what, so that you don't have unnecessary duplication. And so we try to play that essential coordination role in each of these cases.

Q: So you'll be aware of each and every group that's there to offer help, then, I guess?

SG: Yes. Eventually we will be aware of each and every group and who's doing what, and how we can pool our efforts to have greater impact.

Q: Now, how much is this going to take? How much money is this going to take to help fix this problem?

SG: I think you have two phases. You have the emergency phase, where you need to get the relief supplies and try to save lives. And then, of course, you have the recovery and the reconstruction phase. My guess is that it's going to require billions. It's going to require billions. Next month, on the 6th of January, we will make an appeal for funds to cover the emergency aspects, in Geneva and in New York. And I hope the response will be generous. But down the line, I think we are going to need billions, billions of dollars.

Q: Well, Mr. Secretary-General, we certainly appreciate you being here, and we do have Jan Egeland in the studio. We will talk with him in just a moment.

SG: Good.