The earthquake in Haiti was so destructive, in general, because Haiti has been a land under the heel of grinding poverty for many years. It was the poorest country in the western hemisphere, a place where children were sold into slavery to make ends meet, where eating dirt to avoid hunger pains was a practical enough approach to spawn an industry. And then natural disaster hit.

Building codes have got nothing to do with it. My sister went there a few weeks ago. I've seen pictures. Some of those houses look to me like they'd fall over in a stiff rainstorm.

[Edit: The hospital my sister helped build is the subject of the video featured on this page: http://heartlineministries.org/EarthquakeNeeds.aspx . If you haven't seen Haiti, it's worth looking at the community they served and the problems they solved.]