Minister: No loss of housing-related data in fire

Infrastructure Minister Dr. Abdulla Muthalib said on Saturday that the massive fire that burned down a block of government buildings in Male’ City earlier this week did not result in the loss of any housing-related data.

The fire broke out at a block of government buildings located in the Ameenee Magu of Male’ City at around 06:00 am on Thursday. The buildings housed the Housing Ministry, Infrastructure Ministry, Environment Ministry and three sections of the Male’ City Council – including the Vital Registration Department.

Speaking to reporters outside Dharubaaruge on Saturday afternoon, Muthalib said that there has been a lot of misinformation in the wake of the fire – including reports that many documents were lost in the fire.

“But based on our check of data of state institutions, we have a lot of data stored and backed up,” he said.

Muthalib said the authorities are working on identifying exactly which documents they lost in the fire.

“With respect to services that are directly linked to the people, we are able to confirm that we still have... that we have not lost any housing-related information. We are also able to confirm that we have not lost any data or forms related to new loan applications and such, and that it is available on the cloud,” he said.

Muthalib added that the authorities have taken the servers from the site and are currently working on recovering the data.

He said that the top priority of the government is to have the ministries up and running as soon as possible.

Speaking to reporters, Chief of Defense Force Major General Ibrahim Hilmy said the fire was reported to the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) at 06:27 am, and that firefighters responded to the fire “within a minute.”

“Our top priority was to save lives and to prevent the fire from spreading to neighboring buildings,” he said.

The fire has disrupted the services of three government ministries and the city council. Preparations are underway to have the three ministries run out of the Dharubaaruge, a convention center located in the capital.

The fire had broken out just ahead of work hours, and did not result in any injuries.

The cause of the fire is unclear at this point. The police have said they are seeking international expertise for the investigation.