October 15, 2013 appeared to be like any other day for the people of Loon, Bohol.

There was no warning. The ground did not rumble. There were no unsteady shakes, no whistle of a hint. The people of Bohol felt safe as they stirred their morning coffee. The clock had just struck eight, and the day had barely started.  

Inocencia Reyes, an elementary school teacher, had just finished eating breakfast, comfortably resting on her chair. Suddenly, her dog Toby, who was lying peacefully at her feet, started to bark crazily.

“Para siyang biglang atat na atat lumabas (He suddenly appeared to urgently want to go outside),” she said.

Toby, according to her, became jumpy and twitchy as if he desperately needed to go outside.

Not knowing what to do, Reyes carried her dog and brought him outside. It is true what they say, said Reyes, that animals can perceive something humans don’t.

The moment Reyes stepped outside their home, the earth began to shake.

One moment Reyes was standing up. The next thing she knew, she was lying down on the ground with Toby clutched in her arms.

“Hindi mo talaga kayang tumayo (You really can’t stand up),” she said.

According to Reyes, the earth was no longer land, but felt like waves that kept rippling through. “Ramdam mo talagang gumagalaw ang lupa (You can really feel the earth moving),” she said.

A terrifying sound soon followed, but it did not come from the buildings. “May napakalakas na tunog. Nakadapa ako noon at narinig ko galing talaga sa ilalim. Tunog siya ng lupa (There was a loud sound. I was on lying my stomach then and I could hear it coming from the ground. It was the sound of the earth),” Reyes recounted.

Reyes remembered just staring up at the sky, and even then she couldn’t see anything. The sky was filled with smoke from all the simultaneous explosions coming from all the buildings.

“Sumasayaw lahat ng bahay (The houses were dancing),” Reyes said, when she remembered looking back at her home.

She saw her husband still inside, desperately holding onto the walls. She remembered that she kept screaming, “Labas! Labas! Labas!” (Get out! Get out! Get out!)

She felt lucky that she was unscathed because her dog led her outside, but everyone else were still inside their homes when the earthquake hit, and hundreds were injured. When she looked around the street, it was horrifying. “Puno ng dugo ‘yung kalsada (The street was filled with blood),” she said.

“‘Yung napakalaki naming church, pulbos na. ‘Yung 14 classrooms namin, walang natira. ‘Ni teacher’s table, walang natira (Our huge church was reduced to powder. Our 14 classrooms, nothing was left, not even a teacher’s table),” Reyes said.

“Para talagang katapusan ng mundo (It really felt like the end of the world),”she cried, her voice quivering as she recounted that day four years ago.

At least 69 people died in Loon, Bohol. On that day, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the province, the same magnitude of the “Big One” that scientists anticipate will hit Metro Manila someday.