Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 1...

Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 14 to 23.

In the wake of Typhoon Matmo’s destructive passage, the provinces of Thái Nguyên and Bắc Ninh, regions situated deep inland, grappled with an unprecedented catastrophe. Rivers, engorged by torrential rainfall, overflowed their banks with astonishing speed, submerging entire villages in a viscous torrent of mud and debris. The initial hours were a period of profound disarray, a chaotic scramble for survival long before formal relief efforts could be fully mobilized. [I] During this critical window, a different kind of response began to stir, a digital cascade of urgent calls for help and action across social media platforms.

Makeshift convoys, organized with remarkable alacrity, began departing from Hanoi and other unaffected areas. The participants were not official emergency crews, but grassroots coalitions of university students, small business owners, and other concerned citizens. Their personal vehicles were packed not with sophisticated rescue equipment, but with the essential staples of immediate survival: cartons of instant noodles for sustenance, clean drinking water to combat contamination, blankets for warmth, and basic medical supplies. [II] The effort was a direct, communal reaction to a stream of harrowing online images depicting families stranded on rooftops and homes submerged to their eaves.

The on-the-ground work proved to be arduous and emotionally taxing. Young people, many clad in inadequate footwear and with no prior experience in disaster relief, found themselves wading through waist-deep mud under an oppressive humidity. [III] They assisted residents in the backbreaking task of shoveling dense sludge from their homes, salvaging what few personal belongings remained, and helping to secure temporary shelters against the elements. The atmosphere was one of grim determination, a shared sense of urgency that superseded any formal organizational hierarchy.

The spontaneous mobilization following the floods is a powerful, modern expression of the nation's ingrained spirit of mutual support. The event highlighted a growing capacity for rapid, decentralized altruism, galvanized by digital connectivity but fueled by a traditional sense of collective responsibility. It showed a civic response that often outpaced the more methodical, bureaucratic channels of official aid. [IV] In an era of escalating climate-related disasters that strike with increasing unpredictability, the resilience of a community is measured not only by its official preparedness, but by the instinct of its ordinary citizens to act decisively in the face of a neighbor’s crisis.

(Adapted from VietNamNet)

Question 14: According to paragraph 1, the period immediately following the typhoon's passage ______.
A. was an unprecedented catastrophe because Thái Nguyên and Bắc Ninh are deep inland
B. was characterized by widespread disorder before organized assistance was available
C. was a chaotic scramble to stop the viscous mud and debris from submerging villages
D. was a critical window where formal relief was mobilized by a digital cascade on social media