Supermodel Petra Nemcova was vacationing in Khao Lak, Thailand, with her boyfriend when a tsunami hit, sweeping the model and her boyfriend Simon Atlee out into the sea. Nemcova clung to a tree for eight hours, listening to screams for help and watching bodies float by mingled with debris. Her boyfriend, Atlee, was lost. He was one of more than 5,000 people on Thailand's west coast killed by the Indian Ocean tsunami that ripped through southeast Asia ten years ago. The tsunami inspired the Czech-born model to found the Happy Hearts Charity, which has rebuilt more than 105 schools in areas impacted by natural disasters. "The tsunami has given me many gifts and one of them has been consciousness of how lucky I am," she told NBC News.
