Monday, Dec. 26, 2011
THEN
Dec. 26, 2004, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake in the Indian Ocean near the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesian, generates a violent tsunami that travels as far as 3,000 miles (about 5,000 kilometers) to South Africa, affecting a total of 12 countries. Worst hit are Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand in the tragedy that leaves roughly 230,000 people dead. In the Indonesian island province of Aceh alone some 168,000 people die and the local economy and infrastructure are utterly destroyed. It is estimated that in the disaster overall, 1.5 million children are orphaned, including 35,000 in Aceh.
NOW
Last Wednesday, a girl who disappeared during the 2004 tsunami was reunited with her parents after seven years. According to still unconfirmed reports, Mari (or Wati) Yulanda was a victim of forced labor after the disaster, spending the last seven years begging in the capital of the province, Banda Aceh. The Associate Press reported that she displeased her “adoptive mother” and was released. Remembering only the name of her grandfather, after some effort, the now 15-year-old found her village and was reunited with her family in Meulaboh.
