Mr Morris argued it was a myth that people panicked when they heard a siren go off, with evidence from Christchurch and Lower Hutt of orderly evacuations.
The technology of air raid sirens that generated sonic booms was proven, with sirens still operating after 70 years, he said. The Kaikoura Earthquake showed the Government had dropped the ball and provided the ''proverbial rocket'' for politicians to do something about it.
Mounting pressure from coastal residents, including an online petition signed by nearly 5000 people, revived the issue of using tsunami sirens.
Ms Brown said sirens needed to be added to the mix of alerting mechanisms, with clear messages once people turned on their radios.
Councillor Terry Molloy described it as a complex issue that needed more than one system to make people safe.
The council also unanimously backed a call from Councillor Larry Baldock asking the government to urgently review the nationwide standard for siren alert systems, and for taxpayers rather than ratepayers to pay for the installation, testing and operation of sirens.
He argued that smaller councils with long coastlines could not afford the cost of sirens.
Mr Baldock had doubts about how effective sirens would be if a tsunami was generated close to New Zealand, such as the threat from the Kermadec Trench.
Mayor Greg Brownless said texts were not good enough. "We need sirens."
In case someone had still not been alerted that a tsunami was on the way, people should always check their neighbours.
He recalled the killer tsunami triggered by the earthquake off Indonesia and how important just a few minutes became in people moving inland to escape its devastation. Even if sirens only delivered only a 30-minute warning, it would still be enough for people to get 300 metres inland.
Mr Brownless helped out in the aftermath of the Indonesian tsunami, embalming the bodies of some of the people killed when the wave hit.
An unofficial Bay of Plenty Times street survey found 57 out of 60 Mount Maunganui and Papamoa residents polled said there should be tsunami sirens along the coastal strip.