Wasn't the answer to this question wrapped up in a neat little package when you were young? It was easily explainable and it made you feel so warm inside that you knew that God felt passionately bad about the suffering and that it was going to stop.
There is so much pain in this world. People are starving, people are being torchered by others who have lost their minds, there is endless suffering on this planet. Ironically the ones that reach out to the sky for aid are the ones that are ultimately swept away. Hope doens't motivate action and it can even enable stagnance. Instead of "not bothing with such things" many on this planet, fortunately for all of us, are rebuking that complacent attitude and replacing it their natural will to survive.
The difference between the recent Japan earthquake and the Haiti earthquake is that Japan was ready. They still lost many people, but the majority of people were warned with their tsunami systems. During the quake Japan had a lot buildings with sophisticated earthquake protection and it saved countless lives.
I would argue that Haiti was not given a chance to develop into a proud society intent on preserving their way of life and their souls. I wouldn't presume to know the intricacies of either country, but I see a staggering difference in the casualties numbers between countries in the recent earthquakes.
The people of Haiti were, and still are, enslaved by their corrupt governments while Japan is a free nation. The people of Haiti are stifled by their leaders, it would seem, and not allowed to grow. Yet the Earth still shifts like it always has. It is an obvious requirement for the peoples of this earth to be aware of their geographical location in relation to the tectonic plates. Does the average Haitian even understand how the plates act as to set up a defense system? Education of the people is a fundamental, it would seem, that spans many different ends of a national community and it's requirements.
I feel like a lot of people, around the world, agree with me and are challenging their corrupt leaders. I know I did, in my own way.
One thing I have learned from all this is to never let someone else tell you why God permits suffering. If one truly figures out for himself the answer to that question satisfactorily, he/she will be much stronger on the other side of that journey.
The recent tragedies have been a bitter reminder that we really don't know what's going to happen. It reminds me that the "why's" are not as important as we make them out to be. I want to salute the people of our world that are researching ways, and finding answers, to warn us from the devastating effects the earth's internal affairs.
-Sab