The last time Muhammad Ali saw his daughter, she was heading off to visit relatives in the Acehnese coastal town of Meulaboh. Then the tsunami struck, and the wiry, balding carpenter didn't know whether she had lived or died.

For months, he wondered about her fate and wept, until Wednesday _ when 16-year-old Sri Handayani walked into her father's arms sobbing. Holding her tightly, he stroked her hair as tears rolled down his face.

"My daughter, my daughter," he whispered.

Six months after the disaster struck, government welfare workers and the U.N. children's agency helped track down parent and child for an increasingly rare reunion. In the chaotic aftermath of the tsunami, thousands of children were separated from their families.

Currently, UNICEF has registered about 1,900 children who remain separated from their parents. Most of them are living with extended family members, but about 100 are living with strangers who are fostering them, said spokeswoman Lely Djuhari.

The database was created to help keep track of children affected by the tsunami, and when possible, reunite families. The organization plans to keep tabs on all the cases until the children are 18, but special attention is being focused on the children who are without family. ADVERTISEMENT

Cases of reunification with parents are very rare, said Djuhari.

A week before Dec. 26 disaster, Sri Handayani went to Meulaboh to visit her aunt's family.

When the quake hit and the tsunami crashed into the house, she ran outside only to be swept into the pounding water, which carried her to the second floor of a neighboring house. She regained consciousness to find the body of her 4-month-old cousin beside her.

"At the time, I thought the tsunami had only attacked Meulaboh. I didn't know my village near Banda Aceh was destroyed too... I was crying all the time and tried to find my family," she said.

Most of Meulaboh was leveled and around a quarter of its 100,000 residents killed.

Ali was on in his way to work in Banda Aceh when the tsunami struck.

When he returned home, he found only shattered remains. He later located his two young sons, 6 and 11, who had been carried to safety by neighbors. But his wife and another daughter are still missing, and feared dead.

Of Sri Handayani, there was no word at all.

The father and two sons moved to a refugee camp nearby and he tried to find his wife and two daughters with no luck.

Around a month after the tsunami, a tantalizing telephone call came into the camp from someone who had seen Ali's daughter. But Ali had no way to follow up the tip.

Meulaboh is more than 12 hours away by road, and Ali had his hands full trying to care for his sons. Wondering and weeping during the last six months, he could only pray that she was alive and safe.

With old-fashioned legwork, UNICEF and the government's child welfare workers used information Sri Handayani gave to them to track down the whereabouts of her father.

"All the tracking team is very happy that we can do a reunification after six months," said tracking coordinator Lukman Farsa, who works for the government children's center in Meulaboh.

On Wednesday, both father and daughter shared a small moment of happiness as they walked together out of the government's social affairs office, where the reunion took place.

"Now we're going to live as a family again," Ali said, a smile across his face.