Two decades after a devastating tsunami swept across Southeast Asia, Petra Nemcova is recalling what, and who, helped her survive the storm.
The Czech-born supermodel spoke about her vacation-turned-nightmare with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer in a segment that aired Thursday on “Good Morning America.” Sawyer first interviewed Nemcova about her unlikely survival in 2005, mere months after the storm claimed the lives of more than 230,000 people — including Nemcova’s boyfriend, British photographer Simon Atlee, who was among the 5,000 who died in Thailand.
“It’s always difficult to go back in that moment when my life changed,” Nemcova told Sawyer in the Thursday segment, which included footage from their original conversation nearly 20 years ago.
Nemcova previously described how the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami had flooded the bungalow she and Atlee were staying in — just as they were packing up to leave. Atlee was consumed by the waters, but Nemcova managed to cling to a palm tree for eight hours before she was rescued.
“I went into this stillness, into almost like a meditative state,” the former “A Model Life” host said Thursday, “because I knew if I start panicking, you lose more energy. And I needed all my energy to keep alive.”
In the hours Nemcova was frozen, debris broke every bone in her pelvis and caused severe internal bleeding in her stomach, ABC reported.
Because of her injuries, Nemcova couldn’t swim, she said in 2005.
But then a group of strangers found her, Sawyer narrated in Thursday’s segment. Dressing her in new clothes, they placed her on a mattress and steered the makeshift life raft toward medical help.
“Those people were ready to risk their lives for strangers, and that shows the best of humanity,” Nemcova said Thursday.
The second part of the conversation with Nemcova will air Friday morning. It will spotlight the philanthropic work the model has done since the tragedy in Thailand, “transforming all the darkness into light,” Sawyer said.
In 2005, Nemcova founded the Happy Hearts Fund, a charity that coordinates disaster relief efforts beyond what emergency responders can offer. While competing on “Dancing With the Stars” Season 12 in 2011, the model performed a routine to Josh Groban’s “You Raise Me Up,” saying the song empowered her to found her nonprofit.
