312: Rebekah Giles

Rebekah Giles is one of Australia’s top lawyers and non-executive directors, an Ambassador for the Fertility Research Clinic at The Royal Hospital for Women Foundation, a mother, and a survivor of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.

15 years ago, on the 26th of December 2004, a rupture along two tectonic plates - the Burma Plate and the India Plate, caused an undersea megathrust earthquake that shook the earth for a staggering ten straight minutes.

The resulting Tsunami waves were up to 30m high and some traveled up to two kilometres inland destroying everything in their path.

Millions of people were displaced, and over a quarter of a million people were killed.

In the aftermath, a global outpouring of support and compassion followed - the world putting politics aside and rallying around those affected by the most devastating natural disaster in modern history.

In the days and weeks that followed, looking for some good news out of the seemingly near ending horror of the situation, stories of heroism and survival started to filter through.

Rebekah’s is one such story.

She came to my house a while back, and even though she’s a partner at a law firm, gave up hours of her time to share her story with us, and the lessons she learned along the way.

I’ll let her take you through it - however I’ll tell you this.

I hope you and I never, ever have to experience what she went through - however what she has to share about living now, living the life she got back to live again - it’s something I now carry with me every day, and I hope you do too.

If you like what you hear, let her know on IG @rebekahgiles

Enjoy this conversation with Rebekah Giles.

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