This is the footprint of the deadly earthquake that shakes the world 1:04
Gaziantep, Turkey (CNN) --
My parents woke up in terror, screaming as the ground trembled beneath us.
I yelled at them to take cover.
“It's going to be over soon, it's going to be over soon,” I yelled, even when it seemed like it would never end.
Latest earthquake news in Turkey and Syria: more than 5,000 dead and tens of thousands injured
It was just after 4:15 am and I was at my parents' house in Gaziantep, in southern Turkey.
The neighborhood was plunged into darkness when I felt the first tremor.
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I wasn't too worried at first.
It's just another minor quake, the kind we feel every two months around here, I thought.
But then the shaking got stronger and stronger.
Just a few seconds later, he was moving so much that furniture was falling over and he could hear objects breaking.
My parents were screaming.
“Stay under the door frames,” I yelled at them, pleading with them to stay calm.
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The force felt like someone was trying to knock me down, I could feel the violent reverberations in my chest.
I fell to the floor.
The tremor continued.
Minutes passed before it finally stopped.
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We ran out of the house, in our pajamas and slippers.
It was very cold and pouring rain.
There was snow on the ground.
The whole neighborhood was in the streets.
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Twenty minutes later, just when we thought it might be over, the first aftershocks came.
I counted 11, one after the other.
I hurried inside to grab some proper coats and boots and we jumped into a car to move to an open area, away from the buildings.
I heard ambulances and fire trucks heading towards the old town, which is full of older and more fragile structures.
Aftershocks kept coming during the day.
Some were incredibly strong.
One struck when it was right next to a large, badly damaged building.
A civil protection agent yelled at everyone to run.
The town of Pazarcik suffered extensive damage in Monday's deadly earthquake.
(Depo Photos/AP)
All the streets were damaged
Later, I drove to Pazarcık, a city of 35,000 that is closer to the epicenter.
It felt like armageddon.
There is at least one completely destroyed building on every street.
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A Syrian who lives there told me that the building next to his had collapsed.
Someone, a woman, she said, was still inside when the building collapsed and rescuers were digging through the rubble trying to find her.
I stayed in Pazarcık for 30 minutes, and in that short time, I felt four aftershocks.
It didn't seem safe to stay, so I drove back to Gaziantep.
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It was then that the ground began to shake again.
He felt biblical.
They all ran out of their cars.
The tremor was so strong that I could barely stand up.
The water in the ditch by the road churned violently from side to side like a storm.
People trying to leave Gaziantep got stuck in a traffic jam that lasted for several kilometres.
There were cracks in the road and a wrecked car on the side of the road.
In Gaziantep, we are sheltering inside a mosque where it is safer than at home.
Municipal workers have been distributing water, bread and warm rice.
I know it would be even safer to stay outside, in case there are more aftershocks.
But the temperature is just above freezing.
My parents can't stay out in the open.
Eyad Kourdi reported from Gaziantep and Ivana Kottasova wrote from London.
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