A fire at a house in Mahchangoalhi ward of Male' has displaced five families living there as authorities work to provide temporary shelters for those families.
Maldives National Defense Force MNDF had said that the report of the fire at Ma. Morning View came in around 05:00 am in the morning and that its firefighters had extinguished the fire within an hour.
The National Disaster Management Authority NDMA had said that the land plot has two residential buildings and that the fire had occurred on the 3rd floor of the house on the west of the land plot.
It said that authorities had initially evacuated 56 people from the scene and that this includes 17 children below the age of 18.
NDMA also said that MNDF had cleared the scene and allowed those residents living on the east block to return to their homes.
However, NDMA said that the whole west block had been damaged in the fire and that 32 people from five families had been displaced because of the damage.
NDMA said that it had worked to move these families to temporary shelters in the Greater Male' Area and had sought shelters in 7 guesthouses in the area.
It had also said that 3 people from the families had tested positive for COVID-19 and that authorities were now in the process of moving these individuals to government-run COVID facilities.
NDMA also said that it would work with MNDF to assess the damage to the property and work to offer further assistance to the families affected by the incident.
