@_Whitetigress I never said the storm was not huge or serious, so don’t put words in my mouth. I generalized it so that my answer applies to all hurricanes that go through the Caribbean, since when you posed the question, Sandy was already out of strong impact on the Caribbean (it had already passed and done its damage there). And as I said in my answer, the buildings are built differently and can withstand hurricane force winds. The homes of the wealthy in those nations are built to endure this, and for the poor, there are shelters to go to (a lot of times the churches are set up as such places). And to that note, many who die are poor or homeless. Sounds harsh to say, but there is a bit of Darwinism at play here. Sandy has gone through Cuba and Haiti which are 2 of the poorer nations in the Caribbean, so their infrastructure is not as good and was already damaged from the earthquake. But unlike the US, shelter systems and emergency systems in poor nations are not as developed, and their poor suffer because of that. That is why countries like us are the ones who have to send in aid afterwards because the country does not have the relief systems. The answer to your question is they do what they can to stay safe, but unfortunately they don’t have the systems we do to protect all of their citizens. If you are looking for a specific form or protection, all they have are everyday buildings to go into (nothing underground, no special hurricane survival buildings, etc.).