Petra Nemkova may look like a pampered supermodel that has lived a charmed life, but the beauty’s lived through more than her share of tragedy. Petra was vacationing over Christmas 2004 in Thailand with her photographer fiancé Simon Atlee when the country was hit by a deadly tsunami. The model suffered a broken pelvis and was forced to cling to a tree for eight hours before being rescued, while Atlee drowned.

The recent Japanese quake and resulting tsunami hit home for Nemkova, now a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars,” who told “Access Hollywood,” “It’s very hard to look … at those videos. Seeing people trying to escape from their cars and knowing this can be prevented. I think it’s such a crime not to have disaster preparedness in curriculums.”

The model advises keeping calm when faced with a disaster. “That’s very hard to do, but if you are not calm and focused you miss the opportunity to either help someone or help yourself to survive.”

We’re happy the beautiful Petra Nemkova survived her own disaster and applaud her efforts to help others. She added, “It’s a time of suffering but also amazing, unconditional love. You see people helping strangers and putting their lives at stake for someone they never met.”