Tsunami warning towers along the shores of the Andaman Sea in Thailand's southern provinces have been left unattended and needed repairs, Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Surasavadi said Wednesday.

The authorities had apparently failed to fix the inoperable, damaged warning towers, including high-powered loudspeakers installed on the warning towers and tsunami detection buoys which drifted off from the designated spots in the waters, according to the deputy prime minister, who once chaired the National Disaster Warning Center.

Plodprasop made his comments while marking the eighth anniversary of tsunami disasters in the coastal areas of Thailand' s southern provinces along the shores of the Andaman Sea. More than 5,000 people were killed and nearly 3,000 others unaccounted for in Thailand in the catastrophe.

The 2004 tsunami reportedly claimed an estimated 230,000 lives in 14 countries lying on the coasts of the Indian Ocean.

Those Thai coastal areas such as Pipi Islands, Haad Patong Beach and Ao Nang Bay have been viewed as world-famous tropical resorts, attracting a large number of foreign tourists every year.

The deputy prime minister pointed out that the local authorities had even failed to put those warning towers to test or organize an evacuation drill for tourists and villagers and many had remained out of order and damaged.

"They are all necessary equipment procured with the taxpayer's money but the authorities had not done enough to keep them ready and operable," he said.

Plodprasop added that tsunamis in the Andaman Sea would very likely recur in the future, prompting the authorities to take precaution steps to prevent or minimize such enormous losses.

Local villagers, members of the tourism sector and the authorities have organized commemorative ceremonies for the tsunami victims in the affected areas of Phuket, Krabi and Pang- nga annually.