Floridians Flirt With Disasters

An Orlando couple rode out the threat of Hurricane Floyd and within days lived through a massive earthquake that struck Taiwan killing thousands.

After Floyd gave Florida a close call last week, Valencia Community College President Paul Gianini and his wife Sandra looked forward to their trip to Taiwan. They had arranged to travel to the island to help arrange student exchange programs.

But during their first night in Taiwan, the couple were shaken from sleep at about 1:45 a.m. by a devastating earthquake that measured 7.6 on the Richter scale.

"It lasted over a minute. I didn't know what was happening," Gianini told The Orlando Sentinel. "I've been in hurricanes, but you always are told they are coming. These things, you have no warning."

The couple sought refuge under the door frame leading into the a bathroom, said Gianini.

Inside the sixth-floor bathroom, grout fell out of the tiles. Walls began cracking. Power went out, emergency lights kicked on. The Gianinis ran down a stairwell with other guests and huddled for an hour in a pedestrian median across the street in case their 12-story hotel collapsed.

But the building held, despite 2,000 aftershocks, Gianini said.

A few miles away, another 12-story hotel collapsed, killing at least 160 people.

"I've aged considerably in the past 48 hours," Gianini said.

The death toll from the earthquake passed 2,000 on Wednesday. Some 2,600 people are still believed to be trapped in rubble.

Hurricane Floyd left behind partially smashed-up piers at Daytona, Flagler and Jacksonville beaches, eroded beaches, sheared roofs, downed awnings, collapsed screen porches, broken tree limbs, hundreds of thousands of people without electricity and stranded travelers at airports.

Mrs. Gianini, who experienced an earthquake in Costa Rica in 1991, said she instantly recognized the shaking. She and her husband have slept little since, keeping valuables at the ready in case another major tremor strikes.

"Experiencing hurricanes and earthquakes in one week is enough," she said. "To leave (Orlando) and have an earthquake ... my nerves are shot."