Maldives government buildings fire broke out at approximately 06:30 local time (1:30 UTC) on 12 December 2024. The fire started in the Ministry of Housing, Land and Urban Development as well as the Ministry of Construction and Infrastructure, which quickly spread to the nearby Green Building which housed the Ministry of Climate Change, Environment and Energy, and the Vital Registration Office of the Malé City Council.[1]
The fire broke out during the opening hours of the Housing Ministry on 12 December 2024. Later on, the fire quickly spread to the Construction Ministry as well as the Environment Ministry. Firefighters arrived on the scene approximately after the fire had started. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) issued a health advisory saying to not be near the fire unless necessary.[2]Police evacuated nearby residents and occupants in the affected area.[3][4] The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) established an emergency evacuation centre in Social Centre to help the affected people, where 50 people requested help.[5][6] It took over six hours to bring the fire under control. [7]PresidentMohamed Muizzu and Construction and Infrastructure Minister Abdulla Muththalib arrived at the scene to assess the situation.[3] The fire led to the complete halt of operation for the Ministry of Housing, Land and Urban Development, Ministry of Construction and Infrastructure, and the Ministry of Environment.[8] Later, the ministries were temporarily relocated to Dharubaaruge.[9] The Vital Registration Office was relocated to the first floor of Amin Avenue in Hulhumalé.[10]
Concerns and recovery
During the fire, there were many concerns that Male’ residents’ births, deaths and residential documents such as house registries and building permits at the office impacted in the fire.[11] Other concerns were the loss of Binveriyaa and Gedhoruveriyaa schemes, where later an official from the Housing Ministry assured that the schemes were stored in the Ministry's cloud.[1] The Department of National Registration (DNR) and the Department of Judicial Administration (DJA) agreed to send digital copies of important documents over to the Malé City Council that was lost.[12]
Another concern was the loss of data on the Housing Ministry's server,[13] which the government later sent the server to Singapore for date recovery.[14]
Investigation
According to the commissioner of police (CP) Ali Shujau, stated that foreign assistance will be sought to investigate how the fire started.[15] Some are alleging that the fire was intentionally started to destroy evidence related to the recent alleged corruption of the Housing Development Corporation (HDC), which was denied by the police.[16]
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