Malé, Maldives — The Maldives government has established temporary offices for three key ministries at Dharubaaruge following a devastating fire that destroyed their headquarters on Thursday. The relocation aims to restore essential public services while investigations into the blaze continue.

The fire obliterated the Government Office building, which housed the Ministry of Housing, Land and Urban Development, the Ministry of Climate Change and Energy, and the Ministry of Construction and Infrastructure. The incident led to significant data loss from computer servers that could not be salvaged, impacting the ministries' ability to operate.

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu visited Dharubaaruge on Friday to oversee the setup of the new working space and instructed teams to expedite the process. Services from the affected ministries will remain suspended until the temporary offices are fully operational.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire, which has been described as one of the largest in the country's recent history. Damage from the blaze is estimated in the millions of Maldivian Rufiyaa.

The fire spread rapidly, leaving the building completely destroyed. No injuries have been reported, but officials have stated that the full scope of the damage, including the loss of critical data, is still being assessed.