The debate over whether to have tsunami sirens is being officially revived at the Tauranga City Council's projects and monitoring committee meeting today.

A decision to drop tsunami warning sirens from the council's package of warnings was made in January.

People gathered on Mount Maunganui in September 2009 to watch a tsunami surge arrive.

At that meeting councillors opted instead to buy into ReadyNet, a system using mains pulse alerted devices, and the Bay of Plenty Civil Defence Management Group's public alerting mechanism.

The then agreed package deal includes a range of communication options from radio and television announcements, community contact systems using texting and emails, and mobile public address loudspeakers and door-to-door warnings.

The door-to-door warning option was ridiculed by some councillors after widespread distribution of video of the Japan tsunami on March 11 – and revived discussion about tsunami warning sirens.

The projects and monitoring committee meeting on March 28 recommended a group, comprising councillors, staff and Civil Defence staff re-assess siren options.

This group will present its summary of findings at today's meeting for feedback which will give pointers for the next stage of the process – a recommendation for a council decision.

Inadequacies in the existing tsunami warning system have been exposed by several tsunami alerts in recent years and backed up by the release last year of the Civil Defence ‘inundation map' which illustrates the magnitude of the task of alerting and moving tens of thousands of Papamoa residents to safe ground in the event of a warning.

Historically there have been four tsunamis exceeding a five metre run up height in the last 4000 years.