Friendship forged in earthquake brings New Zealand family to Toronto

TORONTO — A Toronto couple who found refuge from a devastating earthquake in the home of perfect strangers on the other side of the world is playing host to their benefactors and relishing the chance to keep building a firm foundation for a friendship begun on shaky ground.

Hershi Kirshenbaum and Martin Fallick found themselves caught in the chaos and tragedy of the deadly earthquake that ravaged Christchurch, New Zealand, in February 2011.

The couple found safety in the home of the Wikaira family, who said they felt called upon to shelter the stranded tourists due in part to the tenets of their Maori heritage.

Six years after they opened their home, the Canadians returned the favour when Maia Wikaira and her parents Martin and Rachel came to North America.

The reciprocal visits and blossoming friendship, both families said, have helped reframe a natural disaster in a much more positive light.

“Sometimes when some things come out of perceived disasters, you make the best of them,” Martin Wikaira said in a telephone interview. “I think that the relationship that we have formed not only with Canada but with in particular this family, that’s going to be the legacy.”

Members of both families were just visitors in Christchurch when disaster struck on Feb. 22, 2011. Maia Wikaira, fresh from law school, was attending an international conference, while Kirshenbaum and Fallick were simply enjoying a vacation.

The Canadian couple were hunting for a local map when the quake struck, ultimately killing 185 people and causing widespread damage throughout the city.

After returning to Toronto, the retired couple kept in touch with the Wikairas.

When they learned that Martin and Rachel were planning a visit to North America to watch Maia graduate from Stanford with a master’s degree, they decided it was time to return the favour.

The two families spent the last week in June together, this time at the Canadians’ home.

Rachel Wikaira said they had a chance to not only take in a host of Canadian attractions, but also to meet Fallick’s and Kirshenbaum’s children.

Those meetings, she said, have set the stage for the friendship between the two families to extend to future generations. “We’ve met their children, and they’re all talking excitedly about maybe one day coming to New Zealand,” she said. “It may just continue. It may not be Martin and I, it might be our daughter and our sons who meet with them and see them again. One little thing has led to lots.”