Earthquake in Turkey and Syria: "Your world was demolished after more than 100 aftershocks" 2:11
(CNN) --
Two children trapped in the concrete in the remains of their home in northern Syria were rescued more than 36 hours after Monday's earthquake trapped their family in their sleep.
"Get me out of here, I'll do anything for you," the older girl whispers to rescuers in a video showing her amid the rubble of the children's home in Besnaya-Bseineh, a small town in Haram, Syria.
A girl in Syria protected her younger brother for 36 hours after the earthquake that devastated Syria and Turkey.
"I will be your servant," she adds, while one of the rescuers responds: "No, no."
The girl's name is Mariam, and she gently strokes the hair on her younger brother's head as they lie tight on what could be the remains of their bed.
The girl is able to move her arm enough to cover her brother's face, providing some protection from dust amid the rubble.
The youngest boy's name is Ilaaf, according to his father, an Islamic name meaning protection.
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Mustafa Zuhir Al-Sayed says his wife and three children were asleep early Monday when the earth trembled with a 7.8-magnitude quake, the largest to hit the region in more than a century of recording.
“We felt the ground shaking… and rubble started falling on our head, and we were under the rubble for two days,” he said.
"We went through a feeling, a feeling that I hope no one has to feel."
Trapped under the rubble, Al-Sayed said his family recited the Quran and prayed out loud that someone would find them.
“People heard us and we were rescued: me, my wife and the children.
Thank God we are all alive and we thank those who rescued us,” she said.
The video shows locals cheering as Mariam and Ilaaf are carried out of the rubble wrapped in blankets.
The children were taken to the hospital, where they are receiving medical attention.
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Rescuers celebrate the rescue of Al-Sayed's family, but it is believed that many others are still trapped under the rubble of the earthquake in Syria. (Credit: Photo obtained by CNN)
With every hour, hope of finding other families is fading in freezing temperatures that have made survival more difficult even for those who managed to escape collapsed buildings.
Al-Sayed's home is in Idlib Governorate, a rebel-controlled area in northern Syria where at least 1,220 people have been killed, according to the Syrian Civil Defense, a humanitarian aid group better known as the "Helmets". Whites”.
The group said Tuesday that the number of deaths and injuries is expected to "increase significantly due to the presence of hundreds of families under the rubble."
At least 1,280 deaths have been confirmed in government-controlled parts of Syria, state news agency SANA reported, bringing the total Syrian death toll to more than 2,500.
The total death toll from the quake on the Turkey-Syria border is now more than 9,500, a number that aid agencies have warned is likely to rise significantly by the hour.
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Aid is slowly reaching those who need it, but even before the earthquake, the United Nations said that 70% of Syria's population needed humanitarian assistance.
“This tragedy will have a devastating impact on many vulnerable families who struggle daily to provide for their loved ones,” said the United Nations Resident Coordinator and Acting Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria and the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis in a joint statement. on Tuesday.
The UN and humanitarian partners say they are currently focusing on immediate needs, which include food, shelter, non-food items and medicine.
-- CNN's Ruba Alhenawi contributed to this report.
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