The importance of enforcing building codes. The major reason why Chile had much less casualties from the earthquake of February 27 than Haiti did from the earthquake of January 12th is that in Chile, the government was able to enforce a building code that protected lives and prevented buildings from crumbling.
The importance of locating major cities away from fault lines. In Haiti, the city of Port-Au-Prince is built on top of a fault line. It may be necessary to rebuild the city in another place especially since it is the center of government, the capital of Haiti.
The importance of controlling overpopulation and promoting decentralization. The city of Port-au-Prince was dangerously overpopulated. It was built for 200,000 people - yet 10 times more people - more than 2 million people lived there. As a result, 10 times more people died. Haiti seems to have invested everything in Port-au-Prince. In the future, instead of putting "all our eggs in one basket", perhaps the Haitian authorities will look beyond Port-au-Prince and invest in the entire country.
The importance of having emergency funds in case of a catastrophe. As a poor country Haiti, does not have a reserve fund to cope with disasters. Chile's government has a rainy day fund of nearly 15 billion dollars. In the future, the government of Haiti must look into tapping the diaspora and other donors to help establish a fund for rebuilding the country.