A day trip to hell

Last weekend we went to Port au Prince to get an idea of the scale of the devastation caused by the massive earthquake which struck the Haitien capital on 12 January 2010. In order to do this as a day trip we decided to fly using the Haitien domestic airline called Tortug'air. and after a short flight of 25 minutes we arrived in Port au Prince.
Already before landing we were able to see large blue tent cities spread across the city which were put up after the earthquake as temporary shelter but 6 months later they seem to have become a permanent accomodation for thousands of people who lost everything in the earthquake. A friend of Robyn's picked us up and drove us around the city for about half a day.
We were all shocked and couldn't believe what we saw: the extent of the devastation caused by the quake and the misery and suffering of the Haitien people was heart breaking. The most striking feature was that the city looked as if the earthquake had hit the previous day: there was no evidence of any reconstruction and during the time we spent there I only saw 2 bulldozers!!! Basically people have no means to reconstruct their houses and the government hasn't done anything apart from identifying the houses which have to be demolished. Property here is not insured and if your house is destroyed by an earthquake in the abscence of government help you have to finance the rebuilding yourself.
Most people in the affluent areas live in tents in front of their collapsed houses whereas the poor have been placed into tent cities where the living conditions are appalling: no running water, no electricity, crime and rape are rampant and I am sure that the risk of cholera and other infectious diseases is extreme. The tents are really cramped and the space between them is less than half a meter. However there seems to be some sanitation in the form of portaloos.
The pattern of destruction of the city is interesting. The destruction is worse in some areas compared to others and you can find a completely destroyed building next to one standing without any damage. I believe that the reason is the poor construction of modern houses as Haiti has no regulation of the building industry. Often the older houses built with a wooden frame were still standing whereas the use of concrete combined with poor building standards as well as the lack of earthquake resistant building technology was probably the main reason why so many buildings collapsed. Entire churches were standing there with toppled spires and some ripped open by the violence of the tremor. Some multi storey buildings simply crumbled and were reduced to a single level. The Presidential palace collapsed like a stack of cards and most of you probably have seen photos in the press.
The centre of the city was worse affected with complete streets wiped out. Driving through this area was for me the worst human suffering I have ever seen. It was like hell. The dust, the dirt, the smell, possibly of decomposing bodies left inside the buildings, the despair and misery was out of this world. It was like a nightmare and I felt nauseous. However despite the destruction life continues amongst the ruins. People have reestablished their businesses as best as possible trading on the side of the road or outside the damaged buildings. These people are tough and despite all the calamities they keep going: it is a struggle of survival!
As far as the reconstruction is concerned there was no sign of it. I saw people with pick, shovel and sledge hammer working here and there and a lot of rubble in the streets often completely blocking the traffic. In the presence of such destruction and in the context of the lack of resources in Haiti where do you start? The task is huge and it will probably take years to rebuild the city and I am not at all convinced that Port au Prince will ever recover.
At the end of the day we felt all overcome by the destruction and human suffering as we climbed back into the plane to fly back to Cap Haitien. It was a day in hell indeed!