Heartwarming moment young boy is pulled from rubble after deadly earthquakes in Turkey & Syria, as expert issues warning

A BOY was miraculously saved after 70 hours of being trapped under the rubble and ruins of what was his home in Syria, as as an expert warns aid to the region is too little and too late. The footage shows the heart-wrenching scenes of young Abdul Hakim’s rescue as hundreds pray and cry in a moment of utter relief amongst the misery inflicted by the deadly earthquakes. TwitterThe crisis organisation, The White Helmets, desperately tries to reach Abdul Hakim – who has been trapped for likely 70 hours[/caption] TwitterHe is freed and there is an overwhelming sound of cheers, praying and crying from hundreds watching[/caption] TwitterA moment of hope amongst the tragic news the death toll has passed 20,000[/caption] The major 7.8 magnitude earthquake – a once in a century event – brutally struck southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria in the early hours of Monday. It was followed by another 7.5 magnitude earthquake and violent aftershocks and tremors that continued to devastate the region and hinder recue efforts. The World Health Organisation predicts 23 million people are affected by the disaster, and the death toll has now surpassed 20,000. Search and rescue volunteers have been desperately scrambling over the ruins of flattened buildings to find survivors – listening out for voices of those trapped, which are getting quieter with every passing hour. The video footage was released by the now internationally-famed White Helmets – otherwise known as Syria Civil Defence – the longstanding civil society crisis organisation that is working tirelessly to save survivors across the war-shattered country. It captures the teams exhaustingly trying to free Abdul Hakim in a lengthy mission, which provides a singular moment of hope for all those watching on – many of whom will have lost their loved ones. The rescue took place in the town of Armanāz, west of Idlib in Syria’s northwest – an area considered to be a stronghold of Syrian rebels. The war-weary region was deeply vulnerable to the earthquake as its buildings were structurally weakened by the battering of air strikes throughout Syria’s decade-long civil war. The only open humanitarian corridor from Turkey to northern Syrian is Bab al-Hawa, and until today, roads leading to it where too badly damaged or destroyed to cross it. The first UN lorries bringing aid have finally crossed the damaged border on their way to the region that has been starved of aid since the earthquake struck. However, “access to the region has been very political,” according to Reva Dhingra from the global foreign policy thinktank, Brookings. Help was necessary three days ago when people were alive under the rubble Reva Dhingra, Brookings Institute In rebel-held areas of Syria’s northwest, the humanitarian disaster is unfolding at an unstoppable pace as this “enclave of specific rebel groups are blocked off from the rest of the world except for that one crossing”, Dhingra told The Sun Online. President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has had little desire to help the rebel-held areas flattened and devastated by the disaster, and is trying to block attempts for international aid to reach opposition-led areas directly. It’s a political and logistical nightmare, she explains, but the issue is also deepened by a “relative lack of interest in the area” by Western nations. That lack of political pressure to open up access for aid, particularly from the UN, she says has helped to play into the Assad-regime’s interests to “isolate” the opposition-led area. “There needed to be political pressure to get aid to this area, and it was necessary three days ago when people were alive under the rubble,” Dhingra told The Sun Online. Even as beautiful moments like Abdul Hakim being pulled from the rubble are happening, Dhingra warns that “hope is diminishing with every hour that is passing”. The reality, she says, “is that a lot of people that could have been saved weren’t”. ReutersA view of the damage inflicted by the major earthquakes in the rebel-held town of Jandaris, near Aleppo[/caption] ReutersThe sheer scale of destruction across the already war-shattered region of Syria[/caption] AFPPeople gather around recently-dug graves and mourn the loss of their relatives[/caption]