Question: Q: Indonesia's tsunami warning buoys not working during quake

An Indonesian woman carries her child while walking to an open space in Pedang.

All 22 of the early-warning buoys Indonesia deployed after the 2004 tsunami disaster were inoperable when a massive undersea earthquake struck off the coast on Wednesday, a National Disaster Mitigation Agency official says.

The 7.8-magnitude quake did not trigger a tsunami, and there were no deaths and no major damage, but it did expose gaps in the systems put in place to prevent a disaster similar to the Indian Ocean quake that killed more than 200,000 people 11 years ago.

In addition to the malfunctioning of buoys designed to warn of massive waves, authorities said there were not enough evacuation routes or shelters in Padang, a Sumatra island port city of around one million people that felt the quake.

"There was definitely panic last night, that cannot be denied," said Zulfiatno, the head of the disaster management agency in Padang who uses only one name, adding that shelters had the capacity to only hold around 200,000 people.

"But the situation has improved from previous years. People have started to understand how to evacuate safely."

The 9.15-magnitude quake of December 2004 opened a fault line deep beneath the ocean, triggering a wave as high as 17.4 metres that crashed ashore in more than a dozen countries to wipe some communities off the map in seconds.

Indonesia straddles the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire", a highly seismically active zone, where different plates on the earth's crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.

The province of Aceh on the northwest tip of Sumatra bore the brunt of the 2004 tsunami, with at least 168,000 killed.

Soon after that disaster, Indonesia introduced a sophisticated early warning system using buoys, sea-level gauges and seismometers that can send alerts to countries' tsunami warning centres within 10 minutes of a quake.

Officials said the procedure is to issue a tsunami warning if a quake of more than 6.5 magnitude and with its epicentre less than 20 km deep happens at sea, and that went smoothly on Wednesday.

But the buoys, which measure the force and speed of water movement, were a missing link in the chain, with many damaged or inoperable.

There were 11 aftershocks during the night following the main quake, but authorities called for calm as they had diminished in strength.
What are the most important parts of this text?

A: The National Disaster Mitigation Agency says all of the early-warning buoys deployed after the 2004 tsunami weren't working during the latest quake.


Q: Fire Destroys Main Restaurant at Jones Beach

JONES BEACH, L. I., Aug. 4—The boardwalk restaurant at Jones Beach was destroyed by a fire early today.

The blaze, which caused damage estimated at $500,­000, leveled the one‐story and basement stone building, de­spite the efforts of more than 80 volunteer firemen from Wantagh and park workers.

Officials of the Long Island State Park Commission said that plans were being made to rebuild the 29‐year‐old restaurant, with construction to start possibly after Labor Day and completion by next summer.

The restaurant opened in 1935, six years after the con‐

The cause of the fire, which broke out about 4:30 A.M., was not determined. How­ever, it was believed to have been caused by spontaneous combustion in a steward's area containing drygoods.

Jones Beach firemen noti­fied the Wantagh Fire De­partment, which had the 80 men and eight pieces of equipment on the scene within 10 minutes. The restaurant was on the east side of the center mall, opposite parking fields 4 and 5.

Wantagh Fire Chief War­ren Sparke said his men were hampered by lack of water pressure and because it was necessary to stretch hoses as much as 1,400 feet to hydrants.

Flames from the burning building, which had closed about 10 A.M., rose 20 to 30 feet as the roof and walls collapsed. Firemen were still wetting down the twisted steel girders and wood beams seven hours after the fire started.

Park officials plan to con­vert other park restaurants to serve diners and to expand the service hours at the Ma­rine Dining Room at the west bathhouse and at the Marine Theater's patio buffet.

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What are the most important parts of this text?

A:
Answer: Boardwalk restaurant destroyed by fire; illus