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Recent work has demonstrated impressively how Fiber Optic Gyroscopes (FOGs) can be utilized to measure rotations and displacements of civil engineering structures. It was shown that under dynamic changes of structural load such as experienced during earthquakes or in wind turbines they provide a reliable measurement of structural deflection even in the absence of a local reference frame. Therefore FOGs are very suitable for structural health monitoring over a wide range of frequencies. At the same time the rotation rate of the Earth provides a self-monitoring feature, which is used for the internal sensor verification throughout the measurement process. All these properties make FOGs very suitable for the application in early warning systems and structural safety. This paper will outline possible application scenarios, shows results from real world measurements and explains how strap-down inertial navigation opens the door to the monitoring and understanding of the behavior of a variety of complex mechanical structures including dams, large scale generators and hill slopes.