Resilient infrastructure in states like Kentucky and Tennessee that are increasingly falling into the crosshairs of deadly tornadoes as a likely result of climate change-produced atmospheric conditions and non-related weather patterns like La Niña is becoming more and more imperative, as evidenced by the recent storm that killed 93 people in the region on December 10th. 

The challenge is not at all unsurmountable but is, however, corrupted by the building industry, critics charge. A 2012 proposal that came in front of the rather powerful International Code Council and even had backers in the deep-pocketed insurance and concrete lobbies was ultimately blocked thanks to a coalition that included the National Association of Home Builders, among others.

A typical “safe room” costs around $7,000 for a single-family residential unit and $100,000 for commercial structures like the ones that collapsed in Kentucky and Illinois, according to The New York Times.

“It really does kind of boil down to money,” Jason Thompson, vice president of engineering at the National Concrete Masonry Association told the paper of record. “There’s just different groups out there that want to keep the cost of construction as low as possible.”