This week, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) sent a letter urging the House Appropriations Committee to provide robust funding for NOAA’s National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP) in Fiscal Year 2025.

NTHMP funds support planning for tsunami response and mitigation, public education, hazard modeling, and early alerts for at-risk communities. The current lack of FY25 funding will be felt disproportionately by rural communities, including Pacific and Lewis Counties which have shared their concerns about a lapse with the Congresswoman.

Pacific County relies on NTHMP funding to sustain its two-person Emergency Management Agency, which is responsible for protecting up to 150,000 people in the event of a tsunami. Lewis County is also at risk of a potential large-scale displacement of coastal communities, threats to residents who work and recreate on the coast, and disruptions to supply chains. 

“Rural counties with small budgets like many of those I represent depend on these federal dollars. They are located in extremely vulnerable locations on and near the Pacific coast, and these dollars make or break their emergency preparedness capacity,” wrote Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez in the letter. “Pacific and Lewis Counties are just two of the many counties at risk across coastal and near-coastal America. These localities rely on grants from NOAA for their emergency preparedness; without that funding, they will not be equipped to protect their communities when a tsunami inevitably comes.”

Full text of Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez’s letter can be found here.