After a two-year tussle over tsunami sirens in the Coromandel, a community group is planning to buy its own.

Thames Coromandel's sirens were disconnected last year, after the paging system triggered a fake tsunami warning in 2020, causing confusion and distress.

Now, communities who felt that was the wrong call – based in Whitianga, Pauanui and Tairua – are fundraising to buy and install their own sirens on council land.

Thames-Coromandel District Council 'could consider” the request, says manager of emergency management Garry Towler.

'Our council is not up to scratch with its systems, and we want our sirens back,” Linda Cholmondeley Smith​ told Stuff.

'There are over 80 volcanos between Tonga and New Zealand on the Kermadec Trench,” the Tsunami Sirens Silenced Group co-leader says.

'If any of those volcanos go off we would have less than 30 minutes to get to higher ground, so we need all the alert systems we can get.”

The group has organised several community meetings over the past two years and a petition – which gathered more than 2000 signatures – in a bid to reconnect the sirens.

But Thames Coromandel District Council says it will cost more than $5 million for necessary upgrades to the system, which it deems inefficient.

The district will have to install 45 sirens around the coast – 18 more than it already has.

And the sirens may only reach 44 per cent of the population, whereas the national cell alert system, Red Cross Hazards app, radio coverage and improved Wi-Fi would reach 80-90 per cent of people on the Coromandel during a peak period such as Christmas.

Tsunami Sirens Silenced Group co-leader David Yeomans, however, believes the council relying on mobile technology 'doesn't add up” in a district with one of the country's largest ageing populations.

'There are pockets of people very serious about sirens simply because of the manner of geography and lack of telephone contact,” Yeomans says.

The group estimates it will need to raise $40,000-$90,000 per siren, and has quotes from three different tsunami siren manufacturers.

The idea is to start with one in each of the three towns– Whitianga, Pauanui and Tairua – and build from there.

Thames-Coromandel District Council's Garry Towler says the council 'could consider” having the sirens on council land, but there would be three requirements.

The group must be legitimate, with a legal entity that could manage and maintain the siren for the long term, he says.

The siren will also need to comply with national standards and have the support of the National Emergency Management Agency.

-Stuff/Sharnae Hope.