How can they build tall buildings in OKC area, but not basements?

[TexasProgresive]

15. I don't think basements in the houses I lived in were much

safer in a tornado than the house. Someone above spoke of their basement having steel reinforced concrete above the basement. That would give a margin of safety if the house collapsed into the basement. The basements I have been in were just a concrete lined hole with a house sitting on the walls. There was nothing to prevent a collapsing structure from falling into the hole.

I remember reading about a guy who had a couple of acoustic guitars in hard cases in his basement when a tornado hit. The whole house fell into the basement. When the excavated the guitar cases were found scratched but otherwise intact. His problem was the guitars had plaster dust in them which was causing a rattling sound. The moral to this story is if you go into the basement during a tornado get into a case like a hard guitar case and have really good dust masks available.

I work in a 4 story telecom building with a basement. The floors are extremely strong concrete I think this basement would be fairly safe. I would possition myself in the north side, which is also close to the stairs.