A Chinese official said Thursday that the government had reinforced public facility buildings, including primary and middle schools and residential buildings, since the devastating Wenchuan earthquake in May 2008 in southwestern Sichuan Province.

Zou Ming, director of the disaster relief department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, made the statement at a press conference when responding to a reporter's query about whether school buildings in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu in northwest China's Qinghai Province had been reinforced to become quake resistant.

Yushu was jolted by a 7.1-magnitude earthquake Wednesday, leaving 617 people dead and 313 missing.

(Xinhua News Agency April 15, 2010)