Why aren't there tornado safety building codes?

[Riverwind (imported)]

Two questions:

1. If that is literally true, how come tornadoes don't hit cities? Are there no cities in tornado alley?

2. What parts of the US have both tornadoes and earthquakes?

Please note, I'm not making a point here. Just requesting information.

As for 1. I was being sarcastic. sorry.

As for 2. There have been tornadoes in California but very small ones which did little to no damage. There have been earthquakes in the mid west, Il, Mn, Wi, Mo, Ar, Tn, look up the New Madrid Fault.

http://hsv.com/genlintr/newmadrd/

I don't think there is any place in the United States that is free of some kind of weather/geologic activity, somewhere along the line its going to get you.

Added, I found this to look at,

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/ ... rgest.html

I have been looking at each state, I have yet to find one that has not had an earthquake.

River

[Uncle Flo (imported)]

There was a small earthquake a few days ago in Minnesota, and I have felt others in past years. I live in a large urban area. A tornado took the roofs and towers off of some houses across the street from me and the same one took the south end off of a bridge a few miles away in the early 20th century. --FLO--

[sduyck_2000 (imported)]

concrete dome house ......tornado and hurricane proof

they are ugly and nobody wants to look at ugly

[A-1 (imported)]

concrete dome house ......tornado and hurricane proof

they are ugly and nobody wants to look at ugly

You can always bury them. Then you can still live in them but nobody has to look at them. All you have to do is keep the grass cut and you look like you are living in a hill.

[Riverwind (imported)]

Ants love it,

River

[Kortpeel (imported)]

As for 1. I was being sarcastic. sorry.

River

Thank you for the responses Kristoff and Riverwind. And no need to apologise for sarcasm, River. I have been known to indulge in it myself on occasion.

My naivete is because I have never read anything about tornados doing damage to big city buildings. All that reinforced concrete can withstand them, I suppose.

Where I live, Johannesburg, South Africa, the city is built on geologically ancient rock. Earthquakes are unknown but there are minor tremors occasionally as a consequence of mining activity over the last 100 years or so. At 5000 feet altitude strong winds are rare. I'd say that there are only ~20 days a year when there is enough wind to fly a kite. Winters can be chilly and we do get an occasional frost.

The worst natural hazard here is probably rain causing flash floods. Normally dry river beds become raging torrents and wash away the shanties built on flood plains since the last flash flood. The guys downstream collect the timber and corrugated iron and build luxury shanties with the material that nature has provided for them.

Hence people here, including me, don't understand earthquakes, tornadoes or even tsunamis but we all know a little bit about storm water run off.

[sduyck_2000 (imported)]

love that idea... tornado proof then just have to be high enough to prevent flooding

You can always bury them. Then you can still live in them but nobody has to look at them. All you have to do is keep the grass cut and you look like you are living in a hill.

[Riverwind (imported)]

Hence people here, including me, don't understand earthquakes, tornadoes or even tsunamis but we all know a little bit about storm water run off.

Lets see if I can help you here,

Earthquakes, have you ever been on an elevator/lift that shakes and creaks all the way up or down, X-10 for a 7.0 let it last for a minute or so, with everything not nailed down flying everywhere.

Tornadoes, think of a thunderstorm with the lightning bolts hitting all around you and the wind at 150 mph going in every direction things flying at you at the same speed, cars picked up and thrown around like a piece of paper.

Tsunamis, I have never experienced one however, it is just a wave from the ocean, what makes them dangerous is that the bottom of the sea pulls away as this 30ft high wave comes at you, it does not stop as seen in Japan. Think of when you jump into a pool and send water everywhere, think of little toy men standing around the pool.

Hope that helps.

River

[Riverwind (imported)]

I think it would be easier to move to the mountains.

River

OH wait they hit there too.

[onlyoptionleft (imported)]

I am not a meteorologist by any means, but not matter what building codes you could put in place, wind speeds of an F5 (wind over 250 MPH) tornado can cause even the smallest of nails to break through safety glass. There would be no stopping a force like that. Even concrete and re-barbed buildings have been known to fall under conditions like that.

I know back in 2009 there was a tornado that ripped through downtown Dallas. It caused millions and millions of dollars worth of damage. Office buildings had parts of their facades ripped of.. Glass was blown out of every window within several blocks of the worst damage. Even being only two years since this I am sure that people are still picking up the pieces of their lives from the tornado.

Not sure what kind of building code you could implement, but I do like the idea of them being underground. That would help out a ton. You could even grow stuff on top of your house.

I can see it now. "Look at the next door neighbors honey they decided to plant Corn on top of their house. Why do we always have to plant wheat?"

It would make farming in tornado alley more fun!!!!