No civil engineering project should go ahead in Europe without a geological
survey, according to the European Federation of Geologists. At a meeting in
Cologne this month, the federation claimed that the recent toxic spill in Spain,
caused by a collapsing dam, and deaths from landslides in Italy could have been
averted if planners had taken local geology into account.
The federation wants the European Commission to introduce a directive to make
surveys compulsory across the European Union.
