Concerns over loss of important docs related to Male' residents in fire

There is considerable concern about the potential loss of important documents related to Male' residents, as the Male' City Council office, located in the building housing the Ministry of Housing, was also heavily damaged in the fire that broke out on Thursday morning.

Male’ City Council’s Vital Registration Section, Land and Infrastructure Section and Building Section are operated at the Housing Ministry building which was burned beyond use in the fire.

Speaking to Sun regarding the incident, North Galolhu constituency Councillor Mohamed Saif Fathih said the Council maintained records of Male’ residents’ births, deaths and residential documents such as house registries and building permits at the office impacted in the fire.

“Some were damaged and some were completely destroyed by the fire. Nevertheless, at the moment, we are unable to specify what has been lost and what was was recovered,” he said.

Saif said some of the documents in question, if lost, can be restored while others cannot be restored.

“Not everything has been scanned. We were carrying out digitalization works. There are old records from years ago. There will be things that cannot be recovered from there,” he detailed.

As per Saif, documents that can be restored include recent birth certificates as they were formulated via the Department of National Registration.

He noted that efforts were presently underway to remove the documents that can be salvaged from the building. Documents that were lost can only be identified afterwards, he added.

“It is possible to say 40 percent of the documents have been removed from the premises. We will only be able to tell which ones were lost once all of them have been moved,” he said.

Saif said some of the documents maintained by Male’ City Council were not damaged by the fire, but by water that was used to bring the fire under control.

Thursday’s fire has brought the operations of three ministries housed at the building to a halt. They are: Housing Ministry, Infrastructure Ministry and Environment Ministry.

Authorities have yet to disclose the cause of the fire.