The first memorials for the victims of last December's earthquake and tsunami have been held in Thailand.

Hundreds of other memorials are scheduled to take place in the Southeast Asian countries that were affected.

Most are set for Dec. 26, one year after the disaster killed at least 223,000 people and left several million others homeless.

Moken sea gypsies carry a bird-shaped boat to the sea during a memorial ceremony in southern Thailand, Saturday. (AP Photo)

More than 1,000 people, including tsunami survivors and relatives of the dead, gathered at dusk Saturday at Khao Lak.

The high-end resort beach, located on the southwest coast, is where most of the Thai victims of the tsunami perished.

As some Moken sea gypsies chanted and drummed, others pushed a boat laden with incense, candles and flowers into a calm sea.

Friends and family of those British killed gather to pray at Patong Beach in Phuket, Thailand, Saturday. (AP Photo)

The Moken, who are nomadic fishermen, believe the ceremony will fend off evil spirits.

The tsunami killed about 5,400 people in Thailand alone, including more than 2,000 foreigners.

Britons, Norwegians honour dead on Phuket Island

Memorials for them were also held about 50 kilometres south of Khao Lak on Saturday, on Phuket Island.

About 150 Norwegians gathered for a service in the garden of a church near Kata Beach to remember the 84 Norwegian citizens who died in the country.

On a terrace at a hotel on Patong beach, several dozen Britons prayed and observed a moment of silence in honour of the 137 of their countrymen who died or went missing in the tsunami.

Thai officials expect at least 10,000 people to attend ceremonies that will be held on Monday in the six southern provinces hit by the tsunami.

Memorials are also planned in other countries, including India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, which bore the brunt of the disaster.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to join about 10,000 people for a prayer service at a mosque in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province.

The United Nations estimates that the earthquake and tsunami killed at least 223,000 people, destroyed almost 400,000 homes and left more than two million people homeless.

About $13.6 billion in aid money has been pledged by governments and individuals around the world, but reconstruction efforts have been slow in many places.

As of March 9, 2005, 15 Canadians were officially listed as dead in the disaster.