[tanzam75]

> There are wood framed houses that are well over a century old, right?

Yes, but that doesn't mean a wood-framed house built today wild last 100 years.

First, there's a survivor effect. Only the best wood-framed houses from 100 years ago are still around today. The rest have been pulled down over the course of that century.

The lumber used 100 years ago was true-sized -- a 2x4 was actually 2 inches by 4 inches. Today, the lumber is dimensional -- a 2x4 is actually 1.5 inches by 3.5 inches.

Houses were often overbuilt 100 years ago, because they weren't as confident in the engineering. Today, we're becoming more comfortable going to the engineering minimums. Thus, there's a lack of redundancy in the structure -- redundancy that may compensate for some construction shortfalls.

[chiph]

A condo under construction succumbed to high winds in Raleigh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSjrOiGIxh4

[dm2]

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/01/13/3530080/raleigh-condo...

http://www.wral.com/rebuilding-begins-at-brier-creek/1331351...

The building had not yet been properly attached to the foundation and the wind was record breaking (80+ mph). The wind likely went up under the structure and lifted it enough to push it off of it's foundation. NC is known to have regular hurricanes and tornadoes.

Concrete buildings collapse too, often times with much more devastating results: https://www.google.com/search?q=concrete+building+collapse&s...