Wandile tornadoes and hurricanes are different. I live where tornadoes happen. About 15 years ago a tornado went over our busiest street. It landed on top of a brick tuxedo shop. The whole business exploded. Also Look up Tuscaloosa tornado I think 2011. Whole streets were just demolished. A tornado can not touch one side of a house and rip the other side completely out.

I've lived in tornado alley my entire life. Tornadoes demolish. They don't care what anything is made of. If it is above ground, it is fair game.

Not if you do proper "confined masonry", by having reinforced concrete columns and girders keeping the bricks in place. And if you have metal storm shutters as well, your windows won't break either and you just weather the storm without damage. Yes, it's more expensive than building a wooden framed house, but it's gotta be cheaper than rebuilding your house and replacing all your belongings, surely...

That's false, a quick google search will show that chances of a brick house falling or being swept away by a hurricane or tornado are lower than framed timber houses.

I think timber is also cheaper than concrete to build with in the US. I could be wrong nowadays, but in the last 100-125 years it's been that way because we have so much timber, especially in the West.

Err, just no

Lili, compared to an F5 tornado, a hurricane is just a gentle breeze.

"While both types of storms are capable of producing destructive winds, tornadoes can become stronger than hurricanes. The most intense winds in a tornado can exceed 300 miles per hour, while the strongest known Atlantic hurricane contained winds of 190 miles per hour." https://news.miami.edu/stories/2019/03/how-do-tornadoes-and-hurricanes-compare.htm

TIL a lot about the differences between tornadoes and hurricanes. "Tornado Vs Hurricane Winds - Which is Worse?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJlvZzrWvRA

"Technically, a cyclone is any kind of circular wind storm. ... Hurricanes occur in the Atlantic and typhoons, in the Pacific. Basically, hurricanes and typhoons form over water and are huge, while tornados form over land and are much smaller in size." https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/What-is-the-difference-between-cyclone-hurricane-tornado-and-twister/articleshow/1317404.cms

Germany has the most and strongest hurricanes in Europe, and yet we have only stone and brick houses here. You never see such pictures of destruction from Germany as you see every year in the US. Wood is cheap, that's why they use it to build houses.

Thank u

Even in urban areas, they still use timber frames... and you are not going to tell an african about remote/rural settlements.

Errr... @GarethGraham, I'm sorry, I'm *from* rural America. We use stone all the time. In many regions of the US, stone was common b/c it's what you got out of the field in order to plant a crop. Or the frost kicked it up. Or both. And brick is cheap if you live near the proper clay to make brick. Brick and masonry aren't urban. They're preference, what you have available easily, and yes, that's *rural* as well. Speaking from a life spent among brick and rock and wood alike.

What? They just don't use electricity and cars. They move buildings like this often. It is called barn moving or something like that. Those "remote settle" are surrounded with normal cities. What?

"They fall down in earthquakes" totally untrue.... if you build a good brick house (with anti-earthquakes rules) they dont fall down at all! did you ever seen a video of an earthquakes in Japan for ex?

The average home with masonry isn't going to withstand an earthquake unless BUILT TO DO SO AS IN JAPAN, where earthquakes are common. Where I live, not common. Then we got a one-in-a-thousand-year event, and, yes, brick buildings suffered collapse. And they weren't antique. So... Gonna stick with "brick buildings can fall down in earthquakes" b/c most aren't built to Japan-earthquake-code, outside, y'know, Japan.

"They fall down in earthquakes"...? Japan should know what works for earthquakes and they mostly use bricks and such AFAIK. Are you thinking of the mythbusters series that "proved" this? They used extremely simple, unprofessional masonry for their tests which is not really comparable to how most (modern) brick houses are built.

What type of brick houses are you building in the "1st world" Why are they so low quality that they are damaged after a flood. The more I listen to stories of americans and europeans, the more i think they brought all the good tech with colonialism, but they didn't keep it for themselves. At my grandmother's homestead, there is a stick and mud house that has been there for over 20 years

Take a look at what happened when the recent 6,9 earthquake struck in the sea north of Samos, Greece. On Samos, a lot of old buildings were damaged and some collapsed, two teenagers died when a wall fell on them and there were 19 people injured. All new buildings are built to withstand earthquakes. But in Turkey, which is very close by, there were 115 dead and 1,034 injured. Modern apartment buildings were reduced to rubble. Either the building codes are not as strict, or there are builders who intentionally violated the building codes and should be brought before the courts.

Most places don't have brick houses. Where I am, it's rare. Where I grew up, it's rare to have brick houses

Go price brick and you'll understand. My friends had to have their chimney rebuilt, and it was a goo thing their homeowners insurance covered it! This was years ago, and it was *just* the chimney.