Avenue Jean-Jacques Dessalines

To use a Salt Lake City comparison, Avenue Jean-Jacques Dessalines is the State Street of Port-au-Prince. It is the main drag if you will. While on my mission, you didn't go to P-au-P without going down this Avenue. It considered part of the National Highway.

We had an opportunity to travel down Avenue Jean-Jacques Dessalines and the destruction was almost beyond comprehension. You saw it but couldn't quite wrap your head around it. It reminded you of the destruction in old black and white film clips of post-war Europe.

It was dusty and relatively uncrowded for a typical Port-au-Prince street. Many of the buildings still standing were unsafe because of damage. The street was dirty partly because no one was occupying the buildings, afraid that an aftershock would cause the remaining standing buildings to fall and crush them; just as others already had to their family and friends.

Fear of being in or next to buildings and walls that could fall was pervasive. Several times I was warned by a Haitian not to stand or walk next ones that were damaged. Many still slept outside, afraid to sleep in their homes.

The video only gives you a sense of the additional destruction in the middle of blocks and on cross streets.