Abstract: A safe room for protecting an occupant against tornado and other extremely high winds, where at least one wall member and roof member of the safe room are constructed from at least one metallic-skinned foam panels having an impact-absorbing sheathing attached to at least one side of the metallic-skinned foamed panel as a cladding layer. The safe room also includes at least one securable door, and is further fixedly anchored to a foundation. The safe room using this construction is lightweight yet strong enough to withstand killer tornado and hurricane wind loads and airborne debris impact loads. The safe room can therefore be pre-assembled and shipped to the installation site with only the need to be secured to a foundation. Or, the safe room can be easily assembled at the installation site from a kit. In either case, installation of the safe room is easy, inexpensive, and, apart from the foundation and anchorage thereto, requires no structural additions.