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Let's assume the terrible combined catastrophe: Fire from the Sky, Earthquakes, Tidal Waves, Category 5 Hurricane Force Winds. Moving to safety on gets rid of the Tidal Waves. So we still have the:

  1. Fire from the Sky
  2. Earthquakes at the 8-10 on Richter Scale
  3. Hurricane Force Winds

Looking at all of these together requires an unconventional structure. You can build a structure that will handle hurricane winds, but that concrete structure will deform in the earthquakes. You can build a structure that might hold up in earth quakes, but it might come apart in hurricane winds due to lift forces. And all of these require a metal m-16 tank to survive burning rocks falling form the sky. What is needed is:

  1. Extreme Rigidity (but with some flex to a point) to prevent breaking apart in earth quakes
  2. Something with very few angles or flat surfaces that would allow lifting forces, and would be low enough to the ground to resist tornado forces.
  3. Something that is totally non-burnable even if subjected to a rain of red hot gravel.

This excludes any kind of normal house as we know it. What does it require? We're talking about a catastrophe shelter.

Beyond the price of the pipe, the whole catastrophe shelter would be comparatively cheap to a house. The whole thing including the land might not cost more than $10,000. Additional supplies to about $5000 would be needed.

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