WOrldORT Press Release 24 December 1999 Government agencies in Venezuela have approached ORT with an urgent request to set up training centres for families displaced by the recent flood disaster. An estimated 470,000 survivors made homeless by the devastation have been permanently displaced and are being relocated by the government to the south of the country. The planned ORT centres will provide skills training for the victims, who are among some of the poorest people in the country. The training will enable them to become self-sufficient and to eventually rebuild their lives. It is a strategy designed to provide the kind of long term help that will go far beyond their immediate needs of food, shelter and medical assistance. ORT is sending its own specialists from Argentina to evaluate the situation and prepare a proposal for setting up the training centres.ORT, with administrative offices in London, currently operates in 57 countries worldwide, including Venezuela, and is known to the Venezuelan Government for its considerable experience in education and training.