Pashuteh Yid:
Yes, the earthquake in Haiti and its aftermath is very sad and very tragic. But we have to understand that there are things in life that we can not fathom Hashem’s intent, and we must trust that the Ribono Shel Olam is only good and does good for His creations.
You remind me of the mashal of the man who has never been to a farm and he does not understand how grain is grown. All he sees is a beautiful field, with flowers and grasses, and along comes the farmer and plows out all the beautiful plants. The farmer ruins everything, and in its place is now just a field of overturned dirt! The man can not believe what he has seen, and cries over the destruction of such beauty. Imagine his surprise when the farmer then comes and digs holes in the earth and takes grains and buries them! What a waste! How could he waste good grain like that! Well, you can imagine how the story proceeds…He finally sees the wonderful field of grain and the farmer comes along and cuts it all down! How could he ruin everything he worked for like that?! It is the same with every step. Everything the farmer does seems incomprehensible to the man. Every time the man thinks he sees the reason and the good, the farmer does something else he just can not understand for the life of him! Why would you beat the beautiful plants you have just grown? Ah! To get the grain. But what is this? Why are you crushing all that grain that you have grown to dust? It is not until he sits down to a meal with the farmer and eats the delicious bread that the man can understand the farmer’s wisdom.
We can not always know Hashem’s reasons, but we know that Hashem has a plan and always does chesed with his creations. Understanding this can give us nechamah when a horribly sad tragedy occurs.
I hope this knowledge can ease your mind a bit.