Sentence: Many have had to leave their homes behind, with more than 1.3 million people being displaced due to the drought.
Passage: Somalia has been dealing with an enormous humanitarian catastrophe, driven by the longest and most severe drought the country has experienced in at least 40 years. ___(1)___. Five consecutive rainy seasons have failed, causing more than 8 million people - almost half of the country’s population - to experience acute food insecurity. ___(2)___. More than 43,000 people are believed to have lost their lives, with half of the lives lost likely being children under five. The damage the drought has caused is far-reaching. ___(3)___. Farmers have lost all their agricultural income, while pastoralists have lost more than 3 million livestock, impoverishing entire communities, and leaving them on the brink of famine. ___(4)___. Some, like the pastoralists, may never be able to go back as their livelihoods have been irreversibly wiped out.
A
Step-by-Step Solution
Key idea: This is a forward-link consequence insertion question, recognisable because the missing sentence introduces displaced people, and a later sentence refers to people who may never be able to go back.
Step 1: Read the missing sentence. It states that many people have had to leave their homes behind, with more than 1.3 million people being displaced due to the drought.
Step 2: Look for the strongest clue after the blanks. The sentence after Blank 4 says that some, like the pastoralists, may never be able to go back as their livelihoods have been irreversibly wiped out.
Step 3: Identify the reference. The phrase "go back" only makes logical sense if people have already been established as having left their homes. Therefore, the displacement sentence must precede this idea.
Step 4: Test Blank 4. The flow becomes: farmers and pastoralists suffer severe losses; many have to leave their homes; some may never be able to go back. This creates a clean Consequence Displacement Inability to return sequence.
Step 5: Reject other blanks. Blank 1 is too early because the paragraph has not yet explained the scale of the crisis. Blank 2 is possible as a general escalation, but it weakens the direct link between displacement and the final "go back" sentence. Blank 3 interrupts the transition from general damage to specific livelihood losses.
Answer: Option 4 (A).