All roads led to Vazhuthacaud as a huge number of city residents made a beeline for the Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Cotton Hill, where a flood relief collection centre functioned round the clock.
Several people from various walks of life, right from police officers to students and the public, chipped in with their efforts as the collection point buzzed with activity and operated with clockwork efficiency.
With traffic in the area threatening to go haywire, the police were assisted by Scouts and Guides, college students and members of various voluntary organisations in streamlining the flow of vehicles. With many people transporting cartons containing relief goods, groups of volunteers were stationed by the roadsides to collect the items, thereby enabling motorists and other commuters to proceed without having to halt.
The efforts at the collection point were coordinated by District Collector K. Vasuki who passed on instructions to volunteers, who were allotted into various teams for packing and loading.
Chandrakumar, one of the volunteers, said that the response of the public has been immense. “We have never witnessed anything of this sort. The volunteers have been struggling to segregate and pack the relief materials. The huge quantity of relief goods has also filled up much of the space in quick time,” he said.
Lack of storage space
The lack of storage space forced authorities to conclude collection at the centre by 5.30 p.m. with relief goods that were brought later being diverted to the other collection centres of the district administration at SMV Government Model Higher Secondary School in Thampanoor and Priyadarshini Hall in East Fort.
Ashraf, an auto-rickshaw driver, who transported some goods that were donated by the residents of Karimadom colony, was visibly excited on being part of the drive that has developed into a movement during the last few days. “Never have I witnessed a spirit of unity as this. I have been transporting similar goods all day long. Many among us have also decided not to charge fares for such trips,” he said.
Health Minister K.K. Shailaja visited the collection centre at the SMV School and reviewed the arrangements. In a statement, she said that relief goods were coming from various parts of Thiruvananthapuram, nearby districts and even Kanyakumari. A large variety of items ranging from food items to sanitary napkins, bags, books and clothes were being brought.
As many as 14 truckloads of items have been dispatched from the SMV School alone. Around 20 loads remained at the collection centre. Around 1,500 volunteers were working on a shift basis. The activities were being supervised by the District Collector and coordinated by the Subcollector and Tahsildar.
She also handed over women’s clothes that were contributed by employees at the Minister’s office to Subcollector K. Inbasekhar.
