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Summary An Indonesian girl has been reunited with her family 7 years after tsunami.
A 15-year-old Indonesian girl has been reunited with her family after becoming separated from them by the tsunami seven years ago.Meri Yulanda Herawati was eight years old when her village was struck by giant waves on December 26, 2004.She was swept away and was feared dead by her family, after several failed attempts to find her. But in an emotional meeting this week, Herawati was reunited with her parents who thought they had lost her forever.She said she had no recollection of what had happened to her immediately after the disaster.No I dont remember, I dont remember what happened. All I know is that I was staying in Banda Aceh, she said.Herawati said she had spent the intervening years living with a woman named Fatimah, who had forced her to be a street beggar in Simpang Lima, the main street in Banda Aceh.But in a bid to relocate her family, she headed to Meulaboh town in Aceh Province earlier this week, only knowing the name of her grandfather, Ibrahim. There, she met a woman who led her back to her family home.Herawatis mother, Yusniar, remembered that during the tsunami, she had held onto her daughters but had lost her grip of both of them.I lost two of my daughters. All this time I was wondering, where are they? Are they alive? The other day one of my daughters returned, I am so happy, she said.Meulaboh was one of the hardest-hit areas when the tsunami struck seven years ago. Officials estimate one third of the 120,000 people in the town were killed by the huge waves.In total, the tsunami is estimated to have killed more than 200,000 people.
