Lake Gardens: Mahua and Subhamay Chanda drove to the office of Kolkata Kairali Samajam with flood relief materials stacked in the boot of their car on Wednesday.

The couple from New Garia's Nayabad brought with them adult diapers, 25kg of rice, 5kg of pulses, lungis and petticoats. "Our daughter wanted us to donate something for the flood victims. We were keen, too," Mahua said.

The office of the Samajam near the Lake Gardens supermarket had by then been half-filled with contributions from various quarters, including schools.

"We have received a lot of materials. We have to check with Calcutta police what they will take with them to Kerala. The rest we plan to send through other means. Our members will also talk to the railways to find out whether the relief items can be sent for free," said T.K. Gopalan, a member of the Samajam.

The city cops have told several Malayalee organisations that they would help transport the relief material to Kerala.

Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) will send a ship-load of goods worth nearly Rs 15 lakh to the Cochin port. "We spoke to officials of Cochin Port Trust and asked them what they needed. Accordingly, we have bought clothes, food and medicines. The ship will leave on Friday," CPT chairman Vinit Kumar said.

Kumar said around 5,000 employees of the port trust had donated a day's salary for the flood victims. "The CPT will soon transfer Rs 85 lakh to the Kerala chief minister's distress relief fund," he said.

At least three schools in Calcutta - Garden High School in Kasba, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Salt Lake and Andhra Association School in Kalighat - have kept their doors open for outsiders to come and donate for the victims. "All three schools have kept a contribution box at the gate," a Samajam member said.

The organisation has decided to focus on certain areas in Kerala, including Wayanad, for distributing relief materials. A Malayalee from Kozhikode working in Calcutta told Metro that two major roads connecting Wayanad with the rest of Kerala had been damaged by the flood waters.

"Wayanad is a hilly area and there were many landslides. After the road links were cut off, it became difficult for aid workers to reach there. So, we have decided to focus on Wayanad," another member of the Samajam said.

P. Venugopal, an advocate in Wayanad, told this newspaper over the phone that they had already received Rs 2 lakh from Kolkata Kairali Samajam. "The water has receded but many people are still in relief camps. They left home only with the clothes they were wearing," said Venugopal.

An IAS officer in Bengal, who hails from Kerala, said Wayanad was among the poorer districts in Kerala. "It has a sizeable tribal population. The number of poor people in Wayanad is more than many other affected districts. So, Wayanad will need more attention," the officer said.