How do you cope with the end of the world as you know it? That's how it felt for Rini, 16, when the tsunami hit her hometown of Banda Acheh in  Indonesia.

Rini was at home with her family when the wave struck. ‘I was fast asleep when I suddenly felt the bed shaking,’ says Rini. 'Fifteen minutes later we saw a wave which was higher than anything I had ever seen before. I thought it was the end of the world.'

Rini got separated from her mother and sister, who were washed away. She took shelter in a mosque with lots of other people, and was reunited with her brother. Then they were faced with the awful task of looking for their family. ‘I think I knew straight away that something terrible had happened to them,' she remembers. 'Dad searched for my mum and my sister’s bodies for days, but we never found them. We couldn’t even bury them or say goodbye properly.’ 

Now Rini and her surviving family are living in a new home built by an organisation called Habitat for Humanity, which Christian Aid supports. One of the hardest things for Rini to accept was her dad’s remarriage to her friend Sadam’s mother. Sadam’s dad had also died in the tsunami. ‘The wedding was in July and I was sad and happy at the same time,' says Rini.

'Although my dad’s new wife will never be able to replace mum, I do have a new family and we’re all happy in our new house.’ 

'I get on really well with my step-brother Sadam. After all, he was my friend first!' says Rini. 'Because his dad died in the tsunami we can understand what each other is going through when we get upset. He also lost a sister and two of his brothers, so I feel that I can help him by being like a new sister'