The tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia tore the hearts of one particular family that thought their daughter had died in the tragedy. But the tide has changed in this story, after the girl was reunited with the family 10 years after the natural disaster.
On Dec. 26, 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami took the lives of 230,000 people in 14 countries. Raudhatul Jannah, 4, and her 7-year-old brother were swept away in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, thought to be among the causalities.
Jamailah, the mother of the children, searched for a month for her lost loved ones before losing hope of their survival.
The tsunami took the lives of more than 170,000 people in Aceh in western Sumatra.
This June, as he was walking through a village on his way home from school, Jamaliah's surviving brother saw a girl that looked exactly like his long-lost sister. He found out that the girl was a survivor of the tsunami and had been swept to a group of remote islands southwest of Aceh.
A fisherman found and rescued the young girl and brought her back to the mainland, where his mother has cared for the girl for the past 10 years.
Jamilah, 42, and her husband visited the girl in late June, finding that she was their daughter. She could not stop the "tears from flowing."
"My heart beat so fast when I saw her," Jamaliah said. "I hugged her and she hugged me back and felt so comfortable in my arms."
Their daughter was reunited with the family, returning back to their hometown on Wednesday.
"My husband and I are very happy we have found her," said Jamaliah, adding that the reunion with her daughter is "a miracle from God."
Their daughter, now age 14, told her parents that the brother that was swept away with her is also likely to be alive since they both were stranded on the remote Banyak Island.
The family is planning to search for their missing son.
