I'll point out, as a midwesterner, that while we have tornadoes, they have a VERY narrow footprint vs a flood or earthquake or hurricane. There's plenty of houses around that are 50 to 100 years old.

But yes, the preferred strategy for dealing with a tornado is a basement, below-ground shelter (aka root cellar) or concrete-and-steel "panic room", all of which are designed to protect the occupants, not the entire house.