Many more lives could have been lost in Japan if not for the strict enforcement of building codes in Japan.  Since building were designed and built in the proper way many did not colapse during the recent earth quake.  unfortunately this was not the case in China and Haiti.  In both China and Haite construction short-cuts and poor regulation of building codes resulted in numerous deaths. 

Unfortunately it take situations like these and lives lost to show how important following rules and regulations are.  It also comes down to ethics of the inpector. 

http://www.globalethics.org/newsline/category/news/