Four-year-old Raudhatul Jannah and her seven-year-old brother were separated from their parents while holding onto a floating piece of wood in the tsunami waters, when it hit her West Aceh home on December 26, 2004, reported DPA.
Jannah's mother Jamaliah, 42, and her husband survived and searched for their children, but stopped after one month, assuming the children had died in the devastating tsunami.
Raudhatul Jannah (centre) is embraced by her
mother Jamaliah (left) and grandmother (right) after being reunited in
Meulaboh, Indonesia 10 years after they were separated
In June, Jamaliah's brother spotted a girl who bore a resemblance to Jannah walking home from school and made inquiries about her.
He discovered that she had been swept from Aceh in the 2004 tsunami to remote
islands southwest of the province.
The girl was rescued by a fisherman and brought back to the fisherman's mother, now an elderly woman, who named the girl Weni and raised her.
Jamaliah and her husband visited the girl in the inland town of Blangpidie in the Aceh Barat Daya district in late June and found she was their daughter.
'My
husband and I are very happy. I am so grateful to God for reuniting us
with our child after 10 years of being separated,' said Jamaliah.
'My heart beat so fast when I saw her. I hugged her and she hugged me back and felt so comfortable in my arms,' she said.
Jamaliah also said she could not stop the 'tears from flowing' during the reunion.
Jannah was reunited with her family on Wednesday and returned to her hometown.
'My husband and I are very happy we have found her. This is a miracle from God,' Jamaliah told DPA by telephone from Meulaboh, the main town in West Aceh.
Jamaliah said she was willing to take a DNA test to prove the girl was her daughter, but that she had no doubt the girl was hers, recognising her as soon as she saw her.
'If anyone is in doubt, I'm ready for DNA tests,' she told DPA.
The family were torn apart when the tsunami hit their house. They clung to a floating plank of wood through the tsunami waters, but two of the couple's children, Jannah and her seven-year-old brother slipped from their parents' grasp.
It is understood the couple has another child, named Azhari, who was not separated from them during the tsunami.
The parents moved from Aceh a year after the tsunami because their property had been destroyed, Harian Terbit reported.
Jannah told her mother she and her brother, Arif Pratama Rangkuti, survived and were stranded on Banyak Island, but his whereabouts are unknown.
The family are going to travel to the sparsely inhabited island 40 km off the coast to look for their son, who would now be 17.
The tsunami in the Indian Ocean was triggered by an earthquake off Sumatra, killing 230,000 people in 14 countries, including 170,000 in Aceh.
'My heart beat so fast when I saw her. I hugged her and she hugged me back and felt so comfortable in my arms,' she said.
Jamaliah also said she could not stop the 'tears from flowing' during the reunion.
Raudhatul Jannah (second from right) sits with
her family on Wednesday. She was rescued by fishermen after she was
separated from her family during the Boxing Day tsunami
Left: Jamaliah (left) said she recognised her
daughter immediately from her 'characteristic' facial features Right:
Jannah smiles after being reunited with her family
Jamaliah shows a picture of her daughter as a
young child before Jannah was washed away from her parents as they clung
to a plank of wood in the tsunami waters in 2004
According to an Indonesian newspaper, Jannah is
'cheerful' but does not talk much and has suffered trauma as a result of
the tsunami
Jannah was reunited with her family on Wednesday and returned to her hometown.
'My husband and I are very happy we have found her. This is a miracle from God,' Jamaliah told DPA by telephone from Meulaboh, the main town in West Aceh.
Jamaliah said she was willing to take a DNA test to prove the girl was her daughter, but that she had no doubt the girl was hers, recognising her as soon as she saw her.
'If anyone is in doubt, I'm ready for DNA tests,' she told DPA.
Jamaliah told Indonesian newspaper Harian Terbit
she was very confident that Weni, as she is now known, is her child
because of her characteristic facial features, though Jamaliah says
Jannah's skin colour has changed, because she has been working in the
sun helping her foster mother collect shells.
The
newspaper reported that Jannah is 'cheerful' but does not talk much and
noted that although she is 14 years old Jannah is in fourth grade
because of learning difficulties resulting from the trauma of the
tsunami.
Jamaliah said she is willing to take a DNA test
to prove that Weni (right), as she is now known, is the daughter who was
taken from her in the tsunami waters 10 years ago
Raudhatul Jannah (centre) and her brother, aged
seven, were washed away from their parents during the tsunami but were
separated afterwards
Jamaliah's (right) brother spotted Weni, whom he
thought looked like his missing niece, in June and discovered she had
been swept from Aceh during the tsunami
The family were torn apart when the tsunami hit their house. They clung to a floating plank of wood through the tsunami waters, but two of the couple's children, Jannah and her seven-year-old brother slipped from their parents' grasp.
It is understood the couple has another child, named Azhari, who was not separated from them during the tsunami.
The parents moved from Aceh a year after the tsunami because their property had been destroyed, Harian Terbit reported.
Jannah told her mother she and her brother, Arif Pratama Rangkuti, survived and were stranded on Banyak Island, but his whereabouts are unknown.
The family are going to travel to the sparsely inhabited island 40 km off the coast to look for their son, who would now be 17.
The tsunami in the Indian Ocean was triggered by an earthquake off Sumatra, killing 230,000 people in 14 countries, including 170,000 in Aceh.
Emotional reunion: Jamaliah (left) with her
daughter Raudhatul Jannah. The girl was spotted walking home from school
by her uncle who recognised her despite not having seen her in 10 years
It is not known where the family were living
when the tsunami hit in 2004, but Jannah says she and her brother were
swept to the Banyak Islands and she was then taken to Blangpidie, where
she was raised by a foster mother. The girl, now 14, was reunited with
her family in Meulaboh on Wednesday
The girl's mother called reporters from Meulaboh in Indonesia (pictured), which was devastated by the tsunami in 2004
DM
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