‘Lost’ tsunami girl rediscovered

A girl feared dead after the 2004 Tsunami has been reunited with her family almost 10 years later. Ranudhatul Jannah who is now 14-years-old had been taken by the waves along with her brother and her family abandoned the search after a month believing she had died.

The girl was discovered by her uncle as he spotted a young girl who looked very similar to his lost niece. He then asked around the town to find out that the girl in question was indeed a tsunami survivor from Aceh.

Ranudhatul´s mother, Jamaliah, visited in June and was ecstatic to see that the news was true and said; “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.”

The teenager had been taken care of by the mother of a fisherman who found her stranded. Aceh was the hardest hit during the Boxing Day tsunami which killed 230,000 people with 170,000 of those dying in Aceh. The 9.1 magnitude earthquake is one of the biggest ever recorded.