New families give Asian tsunami survivors chance of second life

by Arlina Arshad

Banda Aceh (AFP) -- Rusli Abdul Rahman and Fardhiah had been neighbours for years when the Asian tsunami devastated their small community in Indonesia's Aceh, killing both their spouses and their eight children.

But they found a second chance at happiness by remarrying each other and having a son -- one of the many new families formed in the aftermath of a natural disaster that killed tens of thousands a decade ago.

Fardhiah, 50, who goes by one name and now lives in a house surrounded by photos of her lost relatives, said she grieved for months after the tsunami but then realised: "I must start a new life.

"Perhaps God saved me so that I could be useful to other people."

The tsunami ripped apart the tightly woven social fabric in Aceh province, killing husbands and wives, sons and daughters, and forcing survivors together in ways that would have previously seemed unimaginable.

Almost 170,000 people were killed in Indonesia, the vast majority in Aceh, when waves up to 35 metres (115 feet) high flattened coastal communities following a monster undersea earthquake off Sumatra island.

In total, about 220,000 people were killed in countries around the Indian Ocean when the quake and tsunami hit on December 26, 2004.

Muhammad Zubedy Koteng, who worked with UNICEF on child protection in Aceh after the tsunami, said that forming new families was an effective way for many to "cure their trauma" and help them "deal with their loneliness and overcome the sorrow of losing their loved ones".

Some, such as labourer Syukri, helped youngsters left orphaned by the disaster. While wandering desperately round shelters looking for his missing brother, he spotted an abandoned baby boy lying in the undergrowth.

Link:
New families give Asian tsunami survivors chance of second life