Nemcova: 'Whole world hurt by Japan disaster'

Petra Nemcova has drawn from her own brush with death in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami to issue words of encouragement to those affected by the Japanese earthquake.

The Czech supermodel suffered significant injuries after getting caught up in the December disaster while holidaying in Thailand. Her fiancé Simon Atlee perished in the massive waves caused by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean.

Speaking to Access Hollywood after yesterday's tragedy in Japan, Nemcova insisted that a sense of community across the globe was vital in helping victims recover.

She said: "One of the most important things when you're amongst [a] natural disaster is just to stay calm and it's very hard to do, but if you are not calm and focused, you [can miss] the opportunities to either help someone or help yourself survive.

"There's the famous saying, six degrees of separation, but when [a] natural disaster happens there's no degree of separation because... now the world is so small, so even if the earthquake happened in Japan, so many people were affected."

The ex-Dancing With The Stars contestant also confirmed that the Happy Hearts Fund, the organisation she established in 2005 to help children in disaster zones, had already been active in Japan following the quake and subsequent tsunami.

She added: "When I looked at those videos, it's very hard to look at them. What's the hard part [for me, is] seeing... people trying to escape in their cars and knowing that this can be prevented.

"I think it's such a crime not to have disaster preparedness in the curriculum and seeing that, I know that lots of lives could be saved, just by knowing what to do, how to recognise it and being more prepared instead of being reactive."