Use of Auditorium as Shelter

Hey guys!

I was thinking over tornado safety procedures at my school. I realized that they use the auditorium and stage as designated shelters for the fine arts wing of the school.

That got me thinking - is it possible to design an auditorium (seating about 600 persons) to effectively shelter a large group of people at once? They should have thought about that in their plans - otherwise they could be in serious trouble since severe weather is a common occurrence in my area.

Generally you avoid areas with large ceiling spans, like gyms or auditoriums. It’s a pretty weak point in the grand scope of things.

Most certainly not a good idea. This is a security camera clip from the 2012 Henryville, Indiana F4 tornado. Id imagine something similar would happen during an earthquake.
[YouTube]WEH4Tj-eQa0[/YouTube]

Yeah that definitely is a lot of damage.