At the moment, network wide monitoring is prohibitively expensive and very limited in terms of obtaining the necessary data for quick assessment, especially in the case of emergencies due to natural or deliberately caused disasters. Advances in the development of computer vision and Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) offer intriguing possibilities that can radically alter the paradigms under-lying existing methods of condition assessment and monitoring. Future monitoring systems will undoubtedly comprise Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) and will be designed around the capabilities of autonomous nodes. Each node in the network will integrate specific sensing capabilities with communication, data processing and power supply.ABSTRACT