Avery Elfeld

NOAA for years has paid Alaska's Earthquake Monitoring Center to collect data from seismology stations across the state and feed the information back to the agency.

If the data indicates an earthquake could lead to a tsunami, the government sends out a warning message in minutes.

But that's about to change.

NOAA has canceled that contract due to insufficient funds, says Mike West, the Alaska state seismologist.

The loss of that data could result in less precise and less timely information.

West says that could have major implications for tsunami-prone communities across the Pacific.

NOAA declined to comment for this story.

For NPR News, I'm Avery Elfeld in Haines, Alaska.