The World Bank announced a new special award on Tuesday, within the 2nd China Development Marketplace (China DM), for post-earthquake reconstruction projects initiated by Chinese civil society organizations (CSOs), to encourage and support their efforts to help tackle the consequences of the devastating earthquake that occurred in Wenchuan, Sichuan on May 12.

The new award is made possible through the contribution from the upcoming Music For Relief Concerts in China with one of the decade's most popular international rock bands, Linkin Park, performing two concerts in Shanghai (October 12, 2008) and Beijing (October 19, 2008) to raise funds for the earthquake-hit Sichuan area. The concerts are promoted by Ticketmaster China and tickets go on sale on Tuesday at www.ticketmaster.cn.

"Post-disaster recovery and reconstruction is a long process of 10 or more years. The reconstruction is not only about houses and infrastructure. It is also about families, communities, livelihoods and environment," said Mr. David Dollar, World Bank country director for China. "While the government takes the lead, CSOs also have a role to play. They can, for example, provide psychological counseling, help local people restore production and livelihoods, rehabilitate the environment and culture, and organize disaster prevention information campaigns."

The new post-earthquake reconstruction award was created in response to the funding needs of Chinese CSOs for their reconstruction-related activities in Sichuan and badly-affected neighboring provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi. The types of projects to be funded under this special award must reflect the theme of reconstruction in any of the following areas: community rehabilitation, restoration of production and livelihoods, environment rehabilitation, psychological counseling, medical assistance and disease control, assistance to the vulnerable groups such as the elderly, orphaned, widowed and disabled, education services, volunteerism, cultural heritage rehabilitation and protection, disaster reduction information dissemination and other related activities.

"Music For Relief was established to respond to natural disasters to help victims recover and rebuild," said singer Chester Bennington from Linkin Park. "We hope our efforts in China will provide assistance to people affected and continue to raise international awareness about the reconstruction-related projects."

"Ticketmaster is extremely proud to be part of this significant project," said Jonathan Krane, CEO and President of Ticketmaster China. "We will work closely with the artists and China Development Marketplace to ensure the Music for Relief China concerts are a great success and significant contributions are made to the CSO projects."

From now to the end of August, Chinese CSOs will be invited to submit project proposals within a budget range of 100,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan. In September, an independent team of experts will assess the proposals to select the finalists.

The final events of the 2nd China DM will be held in Beijing on October 21-22. The finalists will be invited to present their projects at a public exhibition to be held at the China World Exhibition Center and be interviewed by a jury composed of the sponsors, donors and other partners. 40-50 winners will be selected by the jury for funding, and announced at a grand award ceremony attended by government officials, donors, media and CSO representatives.

About China Development Marketplace: Development Marketplace (DM) is an initiative of the World Bank aiming to identify and support innovative bottom-up development ideas that deliver results, which can then be expanded or replicated in the country. The China DM is jointly sponsored by the World Bank, Ministry of Civil Affairs and State Council Leading Group Office for Poverty Alleviation to support grassroots innovations by civil society organizations (CSO) for a harmonious society. Our donors and partners include the Narada Foundation, Red Avenue Chemical Co., China Social Entrepreneur Foundation, KPMG, Norwegian Embassy, U.K.Department for International Development, Ford Foundation and Swedish International Development Agency. The World Bank continues to welcome other companies and organizations to join and contribute to the China DM.

About Music for Relief: Founded by members of the band Linkin Park, Music For Relief is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing aid to victims of natural disasters and the prevention of such disasters. Since its inception in 2005, Music for Relief has raised over US$3 million for the victims of the tsunami tragedy in Southeast Asia, hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Southern CA Wildfires, Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh and Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. MFR has organized a benefit concert featuring multi-platinum artists & numerous celebrity guests, sent musicians and volunteers to Southeast Asia and the US Gulf Coast to help rebuild and donate supplies to people in need, and planted over 809,000 trees to help reduce global warming. For more information, please visit: www.musicforrelief.org.

About Ticketmaster: As the world's leading live entertainment ticketing and marketing company, Ticketmaster connects the world to live entertainment. Ticketmaster operates in 20 global markets, providing ticket sales, ticket resale services, marketing and distribution through www.ticketmaster.com, one of the largest e-commerce sites on the Internet; approximately 6,500 retail outlets; and 23 worldwide call centers. Established in 1976, Ticketmaster serves more than 9,000 clients worldwide across multiple event categories, providing exclusive ticketing services for leading arenas, stadiums, professional sports franchises and leagues, college sports teams, performing arts venues, museums, and theaters. In 2007, the company sold more than 142 million tickets valued at over US$8 billion on behalf of its clients. Ticketmaster is headquartered in West Hollywood, California and is an operating business of IAC (NASDAQ: IACI).

(China Development Gateway August 5, 2008)