The crime situation sounds very similar to what we have here. You just have to be aware of your surroundings and know where and when to not go to certain places.
The zinc supplements work well. We just got the Sambucus brand zinc lozenges and have been taking two of these a day. I was afraid at one point that coffee would be ruined for me because it smelled like ammonia. Thankfully that righted itself.
I think most places in the world are like that though. You cannot just go anywhere without being aware of where you are going. A lot of people want to go into the townships here in South Africa, and there are safer areas where you can go on tours in the townships, but the fact remains you are entering a place of poverty and crime; anything can happen.
I was in the same boat. Very funny, just before I lost my smell and taste, the last thing I drank was a chai with espresso in it (we call them "dirty chai"). For the three weeks that I lost my smell and taste, coffee and other foods tasted exactly like the dirty chai. It was so horrible, and still to this day I cannot take that smell. It makes me nauseas.