Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the best answer for each of the following blanks.

Almost a hundred thousand people were killed and most homes were ___(1)___ as a result of an earthquake in Tokyo in 1923. The earthquake began ___(2)___ minute before noon when the inhabitants of Tokyo were cooking their midday meals. Thousands of stoves were overturned as soon as the earth began to shake. ___(3)___, small fires broke out everywhere and quickly spread. The fires engines were ___(4)___ from going to help because ___(5)___ roads had cracked open. It was impossible ___(6)___ firefighting equipment as most of the water pipes had burst. Consequently, over ninety percent of the ___(7)___ was caused by fire rather than by the collapse of the buildings. Most people ___(8)___ died were not killed in the earthquake itself but in the fires which followed. If the earthquake had occurred ___(9)___ night while people were ___(10)___, far fewer would have died.