Phuket, Thailand: At Patong's Baan Boa Resort, employee Amaraporn Krataijan, 39, said nobody had come around for a lesson on how to react or help tourists if a tsunami hits.

"I won't know what to do," she said. "Well, if I see people run, I'll just run and follow them."

A co-worker, Ladda Khonkayan, 30, said she had heard televised public advice about what to do if she hears the warning sirens on the beach.

"I'm ready," she said confidently. "I have to be ready. I have no choice. I'll just run."

Some foreign tourists on nearby Phi Phi said in mid-December that they'd heard a siren but had no idea what it was or what to do, since they had received no instructions.

An early warning system, which is directed from the national centre and has been installed on some beaches, had gone off accidentally.