This is the tear-jerking moment cheers erupted as a family were rescued from under the rubble of a collapsed building following a disastrous earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey.

Footage shows the locals breaking out into jubilant screams as firemen pulled the family, including a young girl and boy, from the debris in Harem city in the Idlib governorate of Syria on February 7.

The young girl was held aloft followed by her younger brother and her father, who was put on a stretcher but had a broad smile on his face and wave to the exalted crowds.

They were said to have been stuck for 40 hours under the tangled mess of concrete and steel but were safely rescued by civil defence officers.

The catastrophic magnitude 7.8 quake, measured at a depth of 24.1 kilometres, hit 23 kilometres east of Nurdagi in Gaziantep province in neighbouring Turkey at around 4 am on Monday, the United States Geological Survey said.

Several aftershocks, including quakes of magnitudes 6.7 and 7.5, struck the same region hours after.

As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 10,000 people have been confirmed dead across the two countries. World Health Organization officials warned that the death toll could climb up to 20,000.

Turkey's disaster management office reported that at least 5,775 buildings had collapsed as rescue teams raced to find survivors.

The tragic earthquake is said to be among the strongest to hit Turkey in the last century.