Read the following passage, and answer the questions that follow

Almost a hundred thousand people were killed and half a million homes destroyed as a result of an earthquake in Tokyo in 1923. The earthquake began a minute before noon when the habitants of Tokyo were cooking their midday meals. Thousands of stoves were overturned as soon as the earth began to shake. As a result, small fires broke out everywhere and quickly spread. The fire engines were prevented from going to help because many of the roads had cracked open. It was impossible to use fire-fighting equipment as most of the water pipes had burst. Consequently, over ninety percent of the damage was caused by fire rather than by the collapse of buildings.

Why was the fire engines prevented from going to help?

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