The District Collectorate here turned out to be the hub of collection of essentials to help people living in the flood-affected areas in different parts of the State.
Government officials and volunteers were at work in the Collectorate on Sunday as they collected, segregated and packed essential items including food, clothes, blankets and buckets being offered by people here for sending to the flood-hit parts of the State. People turned up in large numbers at the Collectorate carrying whatever they could offer to be part of the relief activities to alleviate the suffering of those affected by the calamity.
The Collectorate auditorium turned into the store house for the collected items and for their packing for despatch.
A 24-hour help desk is functioning in the Collectorate to collect the essentials being donated by the people and organisations.
Four truckloads of food and other items were despatched to Ernakulam district on Sunday. The items included one truckload of bottled water and biscuits as also 20,000 packets of chapatis.
On Saturday, five truckloads of essential items were sent to Thrissur and one truckload to Wayanad. As many as 2,000 kits of essential items were made ready for distribution among the people in relief camps in flood-hit areas. Officials manning the collection initiative at the Collectorate said that the kits included water, bread, biscuits and glucose powder.
