This video has been nominated as a duplicate of this video by eric3579. If this nomination is seconded with *isdupe, the video will be killed and its votes transferred to the original.

*dupeof=http://videosift.com/video/Camera-in-the-car-recorded-tornado

I disagree, a better comparison would be a remote rural town in the US compared to the remote rural town in China, since what we are comparing is the ability to withstand the same shaking. Comparing earthquake damage to tornado damage is useless and teaches nothing.
In small rural American towns you have the same issues with corruption of inspectors, and also many unscrupulous contractors that will cut any corner they can to make more money (that's the same everywhere, but with less oversight there's more opportunity to do so in smaller communities).
Comparing the damage of a 6.1 in China to the near complete lack of damage and complete lack of injury from the 6.1 in Fortuna/Ferndale, Ca, for instance, would be a much better comparison of apples to apples.

It's unfair to compare this remote rural town with a big urban city with well established infrastructure. A better comparison would be the tornadoes that hit rural towns in the US, annually destroying many homes and taking several lives. Yes, those houses could be built to be tornado-proof, but they aren't because it would cost 3x as much and the average residents are too poor to afford it (and storm shelters and advanced warning make it less deadly)

(Of course, China should still be more strict about building codes. Although they'd have to tackle corruption first- too easy to bribe inspectors, and too many contractors cut corners to save money. They are rightly focused on improving food safety now - what other country would you find counterfeit eggs?? )

Crazy Guy Runs Into Outback Tornado To Take Selfie has been added as a related post - related requested by oritteropo on that post.

Yeah I kind of felt it might be fake too. Even if it's not; it's really just a large dust-devil. Tornadoes are much different.

This video has been seconded as a duplicate; transferring votes to the original video and killing this dupe - dupeof seconded with isdupe by ant.

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This video has been nominated as a duplicate of this video by dingens. If this nomination is seconded with *isdupe, the video will be killed and its votes transferred to the original.

Sorry, but *dupeof=http://videosift.com/video/Frightening-Birth-of-a-Tornado

"Death and destruction, tornadoes, floods, fire, car wrecks, human misery and carnage, wait until you see what's in-store tonight on, Mintbbb-TV!!"

Don't you boys worry; you're doing the right thing sitting there as it approaches. Just wait until it completely surrounds you because the eye of the tornado is peaceful and safe.

And, everything I said was wrong according to Iowa State. The truck is a bad idea (though again, this is assuming close proximity to the tornado). The thing to do is to get in a ditch. Prayer probably couldn't hurt either. You never know.

Then again, a tornado can pick up a person at least as easily as it can pick up a car, ditch or no ditch. I suppose people prone in a ditch have far less drag than a car though.

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~atmos/tornado_safety_rules.html

Interesting article. The bit about basements in brick houses is interesting (possibility the house will collapse in on you, which would suck). I'll keep that in mind because I live in a brick house. Of course, there has also never been a tornado here in recorded history.

Thanks Dolbs, that's good to know even if I will almost certainly never encounter a tornado. So, windows rolled up then. After further thought, I think the truck probably is the best idea in this scenario. Belted in and covered with a heavy blanket to protect you from flying glass should the windows break (and it's safety glass anyways) or other small debris, would be the way to go, or just curled up in a ball against the firewall if that's the only option. In the truck, you're insulated from lighting strikes or downed high tension lines, and it would provide reasonable protection from small whirling debris. You also have the mobility option should that need arise.

Granted, the truck could get hit by large missiles such as tree trunks, other cars, fat old ladies, cranes or other heavy machinery, or indeed itself be lofted hundreds of feet into the air. If any of that sort of thing happens, though, you were screwed anyways.

So, when it comes to this, I'm not really sure this is EIA in the truest sense. Given the (apparently) 30 seconds they had to plan, I think they made a reasonable choice among the options available to them. After all, it's definitely a situation where an okay plan now is better than a brilliant plan in five minutes. And yes, they probably should have come up with a plan as soon as they realized they were moving to a trailer park in ND, so a bit of EIA there. At least they kept on top of their priorities and realized the very first item of business was to film it happening, and I commend their presence of mind to hold the phone properly even in such a life-and-death situation.

Of course, since we're betting on the tornado not scoring a direct hit anyways. It could be that under a bed or in a closet in the trailer might have been just as well (losing the mobility, of course). Maybe having a trailer collapse on you is bad.

I dont' know why I find this scenario so fascintating to dissect.

See #1

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/top-five-tornado-myths-debunke/61918