Some survivors filmed their ordeal as they waited to be rescued,trapped in tiny pockets of air between slabs of broken concrete.
Athitaya and her colleagues were about to begin work on the seventh floor of a Bangkok tower when their leader snapped this picture. Then an earthquake struck.
The US has not been perfect in its application of soft power over the years,but diplomacy and aid are preferable to war and weapons.
Friday’s earthquake emptied Bangkok into the streets and now darkens routines that involve living and working dozens of storeys above ground.
The United States,the richest country in the world and once its most generous provider of foreign aid,has so far sent nothing to the earthquake disaster zone.
It is three days almost to the moment since the under-construction office tower collapsed in Bangkok. But miracles can happen,and the staging area is buzzing.
Aye and her brother are holding vigil beside a four-storey mound of rubble in Thailand,hoping to get news for worried families in their home town 1000 kilometres away.
The Myanmar military kept dropping bombs on its own country even after Friday’s earthquake left at least 1600 people dead. The fate of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi is unknown.
The powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand on Friday,destroying buildings,a bridge and a dam.
Although the violence of the Bangkok building collapse in the massive earthquake is sapping hope that the rest of the missing will be found alive,not all is lost.