“God has given us a miracle.”
A 14-year-old girl from Indonesia who was swept out of her house with her brother when the devastating 2004 tsunami struck Sumatra has incredibly been reunited with her parents this week.
Raudhatul Jannah’s family, who live in the West Aceh district, searched for her and her brother Arif Pratama Rangkuti for a month before giving up and believing they had been lost forever.
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However in June of this year, the girl’s mother Jamaliah was told by her brother that miraculously her daughter might still be alive.
He had seen a girl walking to school who looked similar to Raudhatul, who was four years old when she was swept away.
The girl was reportedly found by a fisherman following the huge tsunami, which left thousands of people dead. He then handed her over to his mother who lives in the Aceh Barat Daya district.
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Jamaliah traveled to the area following the tip-off and claimed the girl, now 14 years old, was indeed her daughter.
The family were reunited on Wednesday.
Speaking to AFP, Jamaliah said: "I am so grateful to God for reuniting us with our child after 10 years of being separated.
"My heart beat so fast when I saw her. I hugged her and she hugged me back and felt so comfortable in my arms.”
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Jamaliah has said she is willing to undergo DNA tests if people doubt Raudhatu is her daughter.
She also believes he son survived the tsunami after Raudhatul told her they had been stranded on Banyak Island, 40km off the coast, but his whereabouts remain unknown.
"We will look for him on Banyak Island because we believe he is still alive," she is quoted by DPA News as saying.
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