Slayerette, I'll try to give my best answer to that without being too long-winded! I know what you mean - seeing pictues on TV of floods in Asia, the tsunami in 2005, failed crops in Africa and all the pain and loss of life, and thinking "God, where are you in all this?" Or at least that's what I think.
Anyway, the way that I would answer it is this. One of the most important bits of the Bible is the very start, the book of Genesis, because that tells us a lot about our beginnings (which of course is what Genesis means). Whether you interpret it literally or as a metaphor isn't that important to me personally; after all metaphors are powerful linguistic devices used to reveal deep truths, so by saying that you read the Adam and Eve story as a myth you are not saying it is any less real, valid or powerful.
So Genesis tells us that people wre created to know God well, to be in a relationship with Him. In the Garden of Eden all was perfect until the eating of the fruit of the three of the knowledge of good and evil, that God and Adam and Eve existed in a purity and wholeness of relationship that was shattered at the point that both Adam and Eve did exactly what God had told them not to. I believe that what that was about, was that God is perfect, and by going against Him, people had ruined the relationship - not God. It wasn't His fault.
Not only was the relationship between the man and woman wrecked, and the relationship between both of them and God, but the 'ground' (the physical environment) was also cursed - everything from now on, from childbirth to farming, was going to be hard work.
So in christian belief the ills of the world stem from this point - broken relationships, alienation from God, and also the difficulties of the physical environment. So we see lots of the effects of this point - which Christians call the "Fall" - and IMO things like droughts and floods and failed crops are effects of the Fall. We talk about living in a broken world, and that means the physical world as much as the world of people, and of course as we are seeing more and more there is a very profound relationship between humans and the physical environment.
So going back to the original question, where is God in all this brokenness? Well I believe that He is still here, reaching out in love and mercy to people, restoring what was broken and wrecked by the Fall, through the sacrificial love of Jesus and the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit in people's lives, making all thing s new, which really means restoring things to what He originally intended. As far as the environment goes, I believe it is our responsibility to look after the world as best we can (i.e Christians should be e greenies!), and to help those in need - I've been an missionary in Asia and I've seen so much need, and tbh it can be overwhelming but to help one person or one physical area is so infintely more than doing nothing.
Errr...I've waffled, haven't I? I must say, my heart breaks when I see people in huge need, whether on TV or face to face. But I know that God loves them much more than I do, and is wanting to reach them - and because He is love He chooses so often to show His love through people. As I said earlier, a big responsibility.