As the reconstruction efforts continue in China in the wake of the Great Wenchuan earthquake in May 2008, the China Development Research Foundation, with the support of the OECD Centre for Effective Learning Environments, organised an International Training Programme on the Post-Earthquake Reconstruction of Public Facilities from 1 to 11 December 2008. The programme involved 25 central, provincial-, city- and county-level officials responsible for the reconstruction work in the most affected provinces of Sichuan and Shaanxi. The programme's objective was to enhance participants' understanding of how to plan, regulate and implement the reconstruction and retrofitting of public facilities by drawing lessons from international experience. The programme commenced with a meeting at the OECD Headquarters in Paris; participants then visited Italy and Turkey, two highly seismic countries. Based on the lessons they learned, the Chinese delegation suggested in a report to China's central government that the government should improve its disaster management mechanism and build an integrated platform shared by the various departments concerned to facilitate information sharing and emergency preparedness. The delegation also recommended designing public facilities like schools and hospitals as multi-functional buildings that can serve as shelters or rescue and relief headquarters in case of an emergency. (Contains 5 resources.)