A photo of a young Syrian girl protecting her brother under rubble in Syria has gone viral on social media. A United Nations representative posted the picture on Twitter.
Mohamad Safa, an UN representative posted the picture on Twitter and said the children were under rubble for over 17 hours. “The 7-year-old girl who kept her hand on her little brother's head to protect him while they were under the rubble for 17 hours has made it safely. I see no one sharing. If she were dead, everyone would share! Share positivity,” Safa tweeted.
Rescue work is progressing in earthquake-hit Turkey and Syria as the latest reports from the ravaged countries put the death toll over 5,000. The freezing weather is affecting the search operations as hundreds of rescue personnel continue to search through the rubble and debris, hoping to pull out survivors. Authorities fear the death toll from Monday's earthquake and aftershocks could climb. Both Turkey and Syria are battling heavy snowstorms, and the temperature has plummeted to sub-zero levels.
The area where the quake struck in Syria is divided between government-held territory and the country's last opposition-held enclave. As per reports, hundreds of families are still trapped in rubble in rebel-held areas.
Thousands of buildings were reported collapsed in a wide area extending from Syria's cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkey's Diyarbakir, more than 330 kilometres to the northeast.
