The purpose of this paper is to describe the organisational aspects of the planning, setting up and execution of building inspection operations under emergency conditions, created by damaging earthquakes. The procedures developed herein reflect experience from damaging earthquakes in Greece and elsewhere and were tested in a pilot trial in the Greek city of Chania, with the purpose of adapting them in the overall earthquake emergency response plan of Greece. A computer program, PEADAB (for Post-Earthquake Assessment of Damaged Buildings) has been developed to support the planning and execution of such operations. Technical aspects of the operation are described in a companion paper (Part 1).