A recent quote from an Islamic professor on the Tsunami catastrophes:

"If God loves a servant, he sends tribulation upon him,'' echoing the story of Job from the Old Testament and similar parables from other religions.

In Islam, all those who die in a natural catastrophe die in a state of martyrdom,'' Bazian said. They are not held accountable for their sins in life; they are given passage directly into paradise. For those left behind, he said, a tragedy of this scope is a reminder of God's power and our own mortality."

Now, isn't this quite absurd? Locating all our good fortune and woe in the actions of an unseen personality. If terrible things happen to me, this is just a test of our faith in God. If wonderful things happen to me, then this is a demonstration of God's favor. This is the complete negation of logic, rational thought and a true search for understanding.

I don't know if there is any good Buddhist explanation for natural disasters that randomly destroy people, but anything has got to be better than this.