Michael Ware
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An update on Mr. Evans
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Earthquake in Kabul
Posted: 04:56 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) - A strong earthquake rumbled deep beneath mountainous regions northeast of Kabul early Friday, waking residents and sending some into the streets.
But no serious damage has been reported from the magnitude 6.2 quake, which struck about 12:30 a.m. about 50 miles southeast of Feyzabad, Afghanistan, in a sparsely populated area.
Centered nearly 170 miles down, the earthquake's power was muted on the surface, although was felt lightly as far away as northern India.
CNN's Thomas Evans and Chris Lawrence, both in Kabul, said the quake lasted for nearly 30 seconds and seemed to increase in intensity.
"I had gone to bed about an hour ago and had fallen asleep," Lawrence said. "Woke up instantly to the shaking, which was considerable. I could feel our whole house here in Kabul moving."
"I went out on the roof very soon after," Evans related. "I could hear people gathering outside of their homes but no obvious signs of damage, no smoke or sirens, at least not in the Sherpur district of Kabul."
CNN's Tommy Groves - currently on military reserve duty as Navy Lt. Groves, the U.S. military spokesman in Kabul - said he had received no reports of damage from military posts around the country and had seen none walking around his base in Kabul.
More BackStory in Kandahar
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Sarmad Qasiri's photo
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Filming in Kandahar [UPDATED]
Length:
3:07
LARGE (36.0 MB) -----
SMALL (3.7 MB)
This is what
Michael Holmes wrote about the piece beforehand in his
Facebook note:
Tuesday Note From Michael
Today at 12:02pm
It's always good to hear from my old mate Tommy Evans.
Not just because he's a great guy and chief organiser
of our Fantasy Football League (gridiron/NFL/American
football, that is).
It's also because he's a top producer and just happens
to be producing Mr Ware at the moment.
They've already filed some "RON" (run of net) material,
but today we got their first BackStory, as they
prepared to tape material in Kandahar.
Tommy does a fine job with the Flipcam* as he explains
some of the realities of working as a news crew in a
city pretty much surrounded by elements of the Taliban.
Also, the gals here think Tommy and the lads all look
pretty sharp in a Kurta. Google it.
*Correction from the field: Tommy's not rocking the
Flipcam - it's the much heavier Sony Z-1. Now you
know!
Softball at FOB Hammer
Length:
3:45
LARGE (43.3 MB) -----
SMALL (4.5 MB)
Happy Birthday wishes
Another BackStory BackGround
BackStory
Frederik
Pleitgen filed a BackStory about flying from Baghdad to
Kandahar, and so we discover that Tommy is with him.
Sounds like it may be a new assignment? The
ever-elusive Mr. Evans doesn't step in front of the
camera until 4:55 into the clip, but the entire thing
is really necessary for understanding what he's up to
now.
BackStory BackGround
Thanks to Délie, I can also post a link to the clip itself!
BackStory campaign
Reaction to Obama election
Tommy Evans
CNN Iraq Bureau Chief
The limited Iraqi reaction I have gotten so far is a stunned one… It was a very commonly held conspiracy theory that the election was fixed and there was no way a black man would win… But even so at the end of the day they don’t really give a s***… Iraqis are so disillusioned by America they don’t think this changes anything.
VO in Baghdad
3.9 MB
Covering Hurricane Ike
Thomas Evans, CNN Producer
Here’s a picture of what we’re dealing as we drive towards the Texas coast. This is the I-10 - 59 Split.
Birthday post
In front of the camera
Something tells me that won't be the last time we'll see him on that balcony... much as I hate to even think about the Ware/Evans team being split up!
Photo of Baghdad sandstorm
Baghdad, Iraq during the recent sandstorm.
July
2, 2008 at 2pm. Photo CNN's Thomas Evans.
Aussie translator
And how did
it all come about?
Blog
from the Back Row
Posted:
12:24 AM ET
I learned something new tonight in the control room.
Two new things actually. I learned the meaning of the
Australian words galah and drongo.
These are words that our Baghdad correspondent
Michael Ware used on the air at the top of
the program while discussing the story of Prince
Harry fighting in Afghanistan. We found the
words and Michael’s delivery so interesting and amusing
(even though we had no idea what they meant) that we
decided to make that :09 soundbite our “Shot of the
Day” at the end of the program. And it was my job to
make that happen.
Isolating the soundbite and having the tape cut and
turned around in 30 minutes was the easy part. Finding
out what the words meant was a little trickier.
To do this I called our international assignment desk
and had them transfer me to Michael’s field producer in
Baghdad, Tommy Evans. No, I wasn’t calling for
details on troop levels or the progress of the
government on deciding how to divide oil revenue or how
locals viewed the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
I was calling for clarification on the definition and
the correct usage of the words galah and drongo.
Tommy found this all very amusing but dutifully got a
precise definition and an acceptable sentence usage
from Michael.
- galah : a type of bird, slang for idiot, as in “you guys are acting like a mob of galahs”
- drongo: also a bird, also slang for idiot, as in “don’t be such a bloody drongo”
It’s healthy to have a good laugh every now and again, even if you are working in a war zone. Thanks for being a good sport Tommy.
- Sean Yates, Sr. Producer, AC360
At the Rugby World Cup final
Greeting the Iranian Ambassador to Iraq
[The
full clip]
On March 2, 2008, the footage was used again, and this
time full-screen:
[The full
clip]
Podcast: Covering Iraq
Part 1
(5:19)
Part 2
(4:01)
AC360 Blog: Call to prayer, silence, then 'boom'
There was a moment last night, as we were preparing for the program, when it was so peaceful and quiet that I could have been convinced the war had ended. We were on a balcony overlooking downtown Beirut; the first call to prayer was sounding.
We had been in Beirut for 20 hours and this was the first time I remember hearing the call. I am sure that's because it was the first time I was able to focus on it.
We flew in yesterday morning on a Marine chopper, landing on the embassy grounds. Within minutes, before we had even moved away from the landing pad, the helicopter lifted off with a group of evacuees inside. Many of the Americans on board were far too young to really understand what was happening. Little boys seemed torn between fear and the excitement of getting to dress up in a military helmet and life vest.
As we drove south from the embassy towards the center of the city, the cars in the northbound lane were bumper-to-bumper. Our driver explained that people were literally heading for the hills, the mountains in northern Lebanon, to wait out the war. It was the first time I'd heard someone wish the war would end soon and not sound like they believed it would.
Beirut really is lovely, quite possibly the most beautiful city in the Middle East, even with very apparent and still open scars from this conflict, and the conflicts that have come before. People here always seem to be whispering conspiracy theories; some think that once all the foreigners leave, the real shelling will begin. It's a frightening thought if you've seen pictures of what has already been done to the Hezbollah stronghold in the southern suburbs.
On the balcony last night, the illusion of peace ended a few minutes after the call to prayer, as the silence was smashed by a massive explosion to the south.
Posted By Thomas Evans, CNN Producer: 4:08 PM ET
AC360 Blog: This is their lives
I had just put down my lunch plate from the hotel buffet when the first siren went off. I never took a bite, and I am just realizing, I never paid either.
We scrambled out onto the hotel restaurant's balcony, where we could see most of Haifa spread out down the hill below us.
The scary thing about rocket strikes is that even with the siren sounding you can't see them coming. No streak of fire across the sky. Not a lot of sound. That is, not until the thump when it hits.
This time, the thump was very close, and soon, a plume of thick white smoke started to rise. Within a few minutes, we jumped into our van and tore down the hill.
The site was pure chaos -- filled with police, EMTs, onlookers, and of course, the throng of world press. Bullhorns were blasting and photographers snapped endlessly at the blast-splattered building.
Then, just as we felt we had a grasp of the scene around us, the siren sounded again. The crowd went from pushing and shoving in the street to huddling together under any cover we could find.
I found myself squeezed in a boarded-up shop doorway with a cop and a photographer. A second dull thud and a second sprint to the van. By then, we were all drenched in sweat. Summer in Israel really isn't body armor weather.
This strike felt very different. The first rocket hit an unoccupied office building. This one hit a more residential neighborhood.
I watched as the apartment building slowly started to catch fire. I saw a man holding a woman in the alley behind me. She was shaking violently in his arms as he tried to console her.
I've never blogged before, so forgive me if this rambles. But as we rushed off to feed tape and throw the rest of our gear in the van to make the next flight to the next story, I am still thinking of that couple, people for whom this war isn't dramatic pictures and adrenaline.
When the crowds leave the neighborhood, this tale won't be just another story running on tonight's news. For the countless innocent people in Israel and Lebanon, this is their lives.
Posted By Thomas Evans, CNN Producer: 2:43 PM ET