text: The mother of a baby rescued after being trapped in rubble for 22 hours following the Nepal earthquake has told of the torture she endured while she heard her little boy cry for help under their flattened home. Five-month-old Sonit Awal was asleep upstairs in the family home when the quake struck, but was saved from death by a cupboard that fell over him. During frantic rescue efforts family and friends used their bare hands to try and free Sonit, but without specialist equipment it was impossible. But today mother Rasmila Awal told MailOnline of her ‘overwhelming joy’ when rescuers finally arrived and pulled Sonit from the devastation, with little more than a scratch to his face. Scroll down for video . Re-united: Mother Rasmila Awal is re-united with her baby boy who was trapped under rubble for 22 hours . Safe: Five-month-old Sonit Awal was heard crying from undernearth the wreckage of his flattened home . Ruined: The family's four-storey house in Bharktapur, Nepal, toppled in Saturday's devastating earthquake . Mrs Awal, 35, said: 'I am so happy to have my baby back. I'm so happy that he is alive.' Sonit was asleep in his cot upstairs when the walls of his four-storey home came crashing down around him. His parents and older sister, aged 10, were outside when the tremor struck and desperately tried to free the little boy from the wreckage, working nonstop through the night with friends and neighbours.. Rescued: Smiling Sonit Awal, aged five months, as he was pulled from the rubble of his home covered in dust . The baby boy, who emerged from the wreckage covered in dust, was miraculously found after rescue workers who heard the infant's faint cries. His mother has spoken of her 'overwhelming joy' that her baby is alive . Sanctuary: Sonit survived only because a cupboard fell on top of him protecting him from the rubble . The family are now homeless and living in a tarpulin opposite the wreckage - but are thankful they are all alive. Sonit's father Shyam Awal lost his brother Azdid in the earthquake . Rasmila Awal said she could hear her baby crying from the ruins of her home. During the 22-hours he was trapped, his mother said she could think of nothing else by trying to save the tiny infant . During the heart-breaking 22 hours that Sanit was trapped, his frantic mother said she tried everything to save her child.. She said: 'I could think of nothing else but trying to save my baby. I was very sad. I did not eat. I did not sleep. 'I could hear him crying from the ruins of our home.' However, following appeals for help, overstretched Nepalese troops arrived to finally embark on a coordinated rescue mission and rescued the boy, as dramatic pictures show. Second chance: The military search team had already scoured the area near to the child's home in Bhaktapur, Kathmandu, in the hope of finding the little boy. But they had moved on after believing he had not survived . Team work: The military team then found the young boy when they returned to the area for the second time . Relief: Sister Soniya Awal, 10, father Shyam Awal, 34, mother Rasmila Awal, 35, with baby Sonit Awal in front of their flattened house. The family have been left destitute by the natural disaster and are living on the street . Areas of Nepal have been completely flattened by the 7.8 magnitute earthquake, which has claimed the lives of more than 5,500 people across the country - and the death toll is expected to rise even further . Mr Awal, 34, a truck driver, had already lost his brother Azdid in the earthquake and said he was thankful rescue workers had managed to lift his son to safety.. He said: 'The baby was saved by a cupboard. He had been lying in his bit by the side of the bed. 'When the walls fell down they knocked a cupboard over and it became wedged by the side of the bed. My son was safe with the cupboard protecting him.' The family are now homeless and living in the street under a tarpaulin opposite their derelict house, situated in the town of Bharktapur, a 30-minute drive from the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu. Despite her family's desperate situation, Mrs Awak says she remains overjoyed that her son survived his ordeal. 'Now God has given me back my boy I want him to lead a good life and do good for others', she said. Mrs Awak said now that her child has been saved by rescuers, she wants him to 'do good' for others . Devoted: Mum Mrs Awak plants a kiss on her baby as he sleeps soundly following his traumatic ordeal . Unharmed: An solider holds baby Sonit after he was plucked to safety from his wrecked home unhurt . Sonit's older sister Soniya added: 'I am so happy my brother is safe. I love my little brother.' One of the Awal's neighbours added: 'We are all so happy that the baby was rescued. Everyone tried to help. It is a miracle he survived. God has blessed him.' The earthquake has destroyed the homes of thousands of Nepalese people, and aftershocks ensue . Rescuers were also rejoicing today after 15-year-old was pulled from the rubble after he had been trapped for five days, . Hundreds of people gathered around to see the teenager, identified by police as Pemba Tamang was pulled out from under the collapsed seven-storey Hilton Hotel building in Kathmandu, dazed and confused, and carried away on a stretcher. Pamba Tamang, 15, is taken on a stretcher after being rescued from the collapsed Hilton Hotel in Kathmandu . US workers joined Nepalese rescuers to pull out Pemba Tamang as crowds gather to watch the rescue . The teenager grimaces in pain as medics start to treat him. He was trapped under the wreckage for five days . A mother dug for hours through the rubble of her collapsed home to recover the bodies of two of her children, but miraculously found her young son had survived. Sunthalia's home was destroyed in Jharibar, a village in the hilly Gorkha district of Nepal close to the quake's epicentre. With her husband away in India and with no help in sight, she was forced to retrieve the bodies of her 10-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son herself. But she spotted her other son, aged four, still moving. 'I could see my son's fingers fluttering through the pile of stones. 'That's how I could see him and save him,' Sunthalia said, sitting listlessly on the ground, her son by her side, with the stench of dead cattle still in the ruins of her house. Nepalese rescuers, supported by an American disaster response team, had been working for hours to free him. L.B. Basnet, the police officer who crawled into a gap to reach Tamang, said he was surprisingly responsive. ‘He thanked me when I first approached him,’ said Basnet. ‘He told me his name, his address, and I gave him some water. I assured him we were near to him.’ When Tamang was lifted out, his face was covered in dust, and medics had put an IV drop into his arm. He appeared stunned, and his eyes blinked in the sunlight as workers carried him away. Andrew Olvera, an urban search and rescue member with the U.S. Agency for International Development's Disaster Assistance Response Team, said the operation to save the boyd was dangerous. Twisted ropes of steel reinforcing rods were all that stopped huge concrete slabs from falling onto the scene. Two concrete floors hung down in front of the building like curtains. 'It's risk versus gain. To save a human life, we'll risk almost anything.'.Mr Olvera added. More than 5,500 people are confirmed to have died after Saturday’s mammoth earthquake, with authorities fearing that the death toll could rise to 10,000. Thousands of houses and other buildings have been destroyed, and the country has been plagued by more than 70 aftershocks in the five days since the disaster. Nepalese police cheer after Pemba Tamang is pulled, dazed and dusty, from the wreckage of the fallen hotel . A soldier holds a saline drip high as 15-year-old Pamba is carried on a stretcher on his way to hospital . Homeless Nepalese are now fleeing the country in fear, with tens of thousands of people having left Kathmandu, and the government is providing a free service bus service to many destinations. The slow pace of the aid operation sparked clashes between police and desperate earthquake survivors in Kathmandu, as tens of thousands of people are sleeping rough in 16 makeshi . On Wednesday, helicopters finally brought food, temporary shelter and other aid to villages northwest of Kathmandu in the mountainous Gorkha District near the epicentre, where entire clusters of homes have been reduced to rubble. Scroll down for video . Devastated: People search for their belongings among the rubble at the heritage town of Bhaktapur . Wreck: A man crosses a square covered in debris from collapsed buildings on April 30, 2015 in Harisiddhi . Search: Part of the China rescue team try to pull down the second storey of a destroyed house in Shanku . Worried mother Sanjjhana Tamang places a blanket over her daughter Simran, three, suffering with a fever . A woman looks at the rubble of destroyed buildings in the village of Sankhuckhock Sukute .
target: Parents of miracle baby Sonit Awal overjoyed as infant pulled from rubble .
  Father dragged rocks away with his bare hands to try and free the boy .
  Infant was saved by a cupboard that fell, protecting him from aftershocks .
  Mum Rasmila has thanked 'God and the rescuers' for saving her child .