Just wondering if the building standards in tornado-prone areas in the States are different/stricter than other areas?
For example in Queensland, Australia the building standards and regulations in cyclone prone North Queensland are stricter, calling for sturdier materials and construction methods, fasteners, etc than the rest of the state.
A Christian Science Monitor article written in the aftermath of the Joplin tornado says that there are “no tornado building codes in Tornado Alley.” (I think Joplin actually requires that new homes be built with hurricane ties now. So there’s one tornado building code.)
But even in tornado-prone areas, tornadoes are still very rare at any one spot. That article says that the chance of a particular building in tornado alley being hit in a particular year is around 1 in 5,000.