The damaged site, reportedly on land belonging to Minedu (Ministry of Education), raises the specter of forced evictions: 450 affected residents may face eviction altogether.
Meanwhile, children — bewildered, shaken — try to make sense of a world where their safe haven vanished in a matter of hours.
Beyond immediate relief, this tragedy underscores something deeper and more structural: the vulnerability of informal settlements built without proper regulation;
the grave danger that clandestine activities (like unregulated pyrotechnics workshops) pose when mixed with highly flammable housing; the dire need for safer, regulated housing, for access to potable water, for basic infrastructure.
But for now, in the midst of loss and uncertainty, what matters most is compassion.
That parents hold their children tight; that neighbors lean on each other; that strangers open their doors and their hearts.
Under the smoky skies of Pamplona Alta, hopes may be fragile — but humanity, at least, is still very much alive.
