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A Taiwan News article describes how unregulated construction has contributed toward the amount and types of earthquake damage in that country. This raises similar issues across Asian where a high occurence of earthquake related activity is present. Can surveying and land management play a role toward mitigating these impacts?

As the Taiwan News article states, "Most buildings in Haiti go up without engineers, standards or inspections. The earthquake is only the latest, and worst, tragedy to expose the largely unregulated and slapdash construction long accepted on the island - practices that structural engineers believe added to a staggering death toll that could reach 200,000."

From an emergency and relief perspective, accurate land management data helps to locate where buildings are, their types and valuable pieces of information such as access, activity indoors and other emergency related etails

But another side of the earthquake preparedness planning involves the structures themselves. We have a wealth of knowledge about earthquake activity, but need to ensure that translates into the proper delivery and development of structures suitable for those regions.

ASM Newsletter is distributed by e-mail every week. It reports on events in the spatial industry in Asia and events outside the region which will impact on Asia.