Positive Reappraisal: Transcending Tragedy Model Petra Nemcova was vacationing with her fiancé when a tsunami struck Thailand. Swept up in the powerful currents of debris and destruction, Nemcova lost sight of her fiancé in the swirling waters but managed to grab hold of a partly submerged palm tree. Suffering from a shattered pelvis and internal injuries, Nemcova clung to the tree for eight hours before being rescued. Three months later, her fiance’s body was found.
Nemcova founded Happy Hearts Fund, an international foundation that has raised tens of millions of dollars and founded schools and clinics in areas hit by natural disasters around the world, including Thailand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Nemcova is shown here at the opening of a kindergarten in an Indonesian village that was devastated by a powerful earthquake.
AP Photo/Purwowiyoto