For one year, the dog called Bubis was the mascot of the primary school in Vrisa on the island of Levsos. He disappeared from the area after the powerful 6.3 R earthquake stroke on June 12th, devastated the village and brought also the school to collapse.When the school bell rang again for the first time after many months, the dog came running out of nowhere. He reunited with his old friends with cheers and hugs and tears of joy.

The stray dog was practically adopted by the school. However, right after the earthquake, the dog the children had named Bubis had disappeared and was never seen again. Everybody thought that he was in the school when the earthquake occurred and that he had died under the debris.

The debris was removed, the school was rebuilt. On Monday, the official inauguration took place. Pupils, teachers and parents were all gathered for the first day in school, for the first day of hope in their earthquake devastated village.



Suddenly, out of the blue, they saw Bubis come running out of the fields. He came running upon hearing the school bell, exactly as he did the very first time he came to the school yard at the begin of the education year in autumn 2016.

When the small-size stray first came to the school was calm and friendly especially to children. Pupils and personnel embraced the dog from the very first moment, he was adopted by the whole school. The children named him “Bubis”.

He was de-wormed and vaccinated and lived in the school, enjoying the company of many happy faces and hugs. Until June 12th. The school was demolished and rebuilt but there was no sign of Bubis at all.

Nobody saw him in the area, “he never appeared even during the school reconstruction,” Myrsini Nikelli, the director of Vrissa Primary School told the Athens News Agency.

And suddenly on Monday morning, when the children voices filled the school yard and echoed through the village, when the school bell rang bringing hope to everybody… Bubis decided life had turned back to normal. He returned home. He came running out of the fields, visibly slimmer but happy.

“Everybody was pleasantly surprised and what happened it hard to describe,” writes ana.gr “The children welcomed their dog with cheers, teachers and everybody who knew him cried, and Bubis was the happiest dog of the world. Happy to have returned to his friends at the village school.”

Kudos to school director Myrsini Nikelli who has been offering a shelter to the stray. Not many school directors do that.



The powerful 6.3R earthquake of June 12th devastated the village of Vrisa. The majority of the houses collapsed or suffered serious damage. A mother of two was killed when the roof of her home collapsed. At least 15 people were injured.

The home of 850 people was turned into a ghost village.

Reconstruction started immediately, houses were rebuilt and the people returned home, together with their children and their elderly.

The primary and nursery school of Vrisa was reconstructed, it opened its doors a month later than the usual schools starting date across the country. Due to the extraordinary circumstances.

53 happy school children and one very happy dog 🙂