Why are houses made of wood rather than concrete in the tornado zones in the USA?

Question

Honestly, every year we hear about houses getting destroyed by tornados (and people getting buried under). They seem to be mostly wooden houses. So, why not build concrete houses, atleast in the high risk disaster prone areas?

In: 1750

Answer 1

The concrete hospital in Joplin had to be condemned after being hit by a tornado. Tornadoes can drive a 2×4 through concrete. Houses have entry doors and garage doors and windows, which are weak points that are going to fail. So unless you want to live in a bunker, concrete isn’t a big improvement for a big increase in cost. That’s why you often see a single, small, hardened shelter, preferably underground, instead of hardening the whole house.