PHUKET: People on Phuket were not committed to tsunami awareness and showed a lack of interest in being prepared, the head of Phuket's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, San Janthawong, said yesterday.

He was speaking on the eve of a tsunami evacuation drill planned for Phuket's Karon beach on Thursday afternoon.

''There is a lack of commitment,'' he said. ''We would like people to come along to our regular meetings but people on Phuket seldom show any real interest in being involved.

''When a real disaster happens, they will blame us.''

The December 26, 2004 tsunami killed 5400 people in Thailand's worst natural disaster - about half of them tourists. But the vast majority of deaths occurred around Khao Lak and on Phi Phi island, not on Phuket.

Earthquakes off Indonesia in April last year prompted a tsunami alert that sent thousands fleeing from Phuket's west coast. Within days, an earthquake centred on Phuket sparked a second ''real'' disaster alert.

Since the 2004 tsunami, many questions have been asked about the adequacy of warnings on Phuket and along the Andaman coast. Those two real alerts in April last year failed to ease concerns.

Some people fled in panic. Traffic was chaotic. Staff at some restaurants, resorts and in shopping centres were reported to have run without regard to tourists and customers. Mobile telephone services were quickly overwhelmed by multiple calls.

Some organisations had evacuation plans but had not anticipated how to provide food or water for people who were stuck in ''safe havens'' for hours.

The 19 tsunami alert towers on Phuket sound a siren but it was not possible to tell whether later sirens meant the alert was over, or a new threat was looming.

Regular evacuation drills, held annually at Patong beach, proved to be nothing like April's real alerts.

In the first real alert, people clogged the hilltops above Patong, looking for the big wave and waiting for word from authorities about what to do next. They waited a very long time.

The result: traffic chaos on the way out, and no hope of ambulances and rescuers getting in to Phuket's west coast if the disaster had been real.

Resorts and other businesses should have taken note of April's issues and reintroduced regular tsunami training for all staff.

Every tourist who visits Phuket and the Andaman coast needs to be aware that although another tsunami is unlikely, there is always the possibility of another big wave.

With widespread Phuket apathy, Khun San's task of imposing preparedness appears difficult.

The six-language tsunami tower warnings still do not include Russian or Burmese, two of the largest groups likely to be at risk in the real thing.

He said yesterday that any change would have to be made by the Disaster Warning Centre in Bangkok.

North of Phuket in the village of Nam Khem, where about 800 people died in 2004, villagers conscientiously take part in tsunami preparations and have developed their own systems.

This is because family, friends and neighbors perished in large numbers. The village - since restored - was obliterated close to the coast.

Phuket's toll was relatively small by comparison. Lack of interest in awareness and preparedness is the result, serious deficiencies for a holiday island placed permanently by geography in a tsunami hazard zone.