Wailing children, flattened buildings and hospitals full of bodies — a devastating earthquake on Monday looked painfully familiar for Syrian families and rescuers worn down by nearly 12 years of bombardment and displacement.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake sent people rushing into the streets in the country’s north, where air strikes and shelling have already traumatised the population and weakened the foundations of many buildings. In the rebel-held town of Jandaris in Aleppo province, a mound of concrete, steel rods and bundles of clothes lay where a multi-storey building once stood.

“There were 12 families under there. Not a single one came out. Not one,” said a thin young man, his eyes wide open in shock and his hand bandaged.

“We were pulling people out ourselves at three in the morning,” he said, his breath visible in the cold winter air as he spoke. Young men could be seen clawing through debris and heaving hammers onto slabs of concrete to look for survivors.