Out of the confusion following Sunday's earthquakes came a friendship forged by kindness.

After the quakes hit, Doris Peters and her three sisters, here from British Columbia and Texas for a family reunion, were among the many tourists left wondering where to go and if a tsunami was coming.

The foursome left their hotel and hit the streets of Waikiki despite the rain, unsure of where to find safety and unable to get answers from hotel personnel who were trying to find out themselves what was going on.

It wasn't what they had planned for their vacation. They had come to O'ahu to celebrate the life of their brother, who had passed away five years ago but had made annual treks to Hawai'i for 30 years.

Now, they didn't know if they should get to higher ground, or how to get there. It was raining, hard. They had no food, no water and no way of knowing what they should do next. Soaking wet, they made it to a parking garage on Ala Wai Boulevard.

That's where their fortunes changed. They met Estrellita Schweizer, a Diamond Head resident, who offered them companionship, food and water.

"No one here could tell us what was going on," said Peters, from Georgetown, Texas. "We asked local people what to do and where to go and no one knew. We knew from experiences with Hurricane Katrina we should move away from the ocean."

Schweizer, armed with a suitcase that overflowed with bottled water, flashlights, blankets and even toilet paper, was picking up her son when she noticed fear and confusion on the sisters' faces. She couldn't not help. She offered to take them to Kapi'olani Community College — a suitable distance away from any tsunami, if one came — with her and her son.

"It was all part of being a human being," Schweizer said yesterday. "These ladies were wandering around and looking scared. They didn't know what to do."

The sisters took the ride and spent the morning talking with their new friend, who later drove them back to their Waikiki hotel so they could meet with their other sister, who was slated to arrive from British Columbia on Sunday morning.

With the threat of a tsunami over, the sisters combed Waikiki for food — and came up empty because of the power outage. Compounding matters, the arrival of their other sister, Donna Cameron, was delayed because of the earthquakes.

Enter Schweizer again, who upon returning home, couldn't stop thinking about the sisters. When she thought about her own fridge full of food, she called Peters and invited them to her place for a barbecue.

And they gladly accepted, again.

"It's quite a story," Peters said. "People need an uplift. We need to tell people how kind the Hawaiian people were to us. I've never had this kind of hospitality before. It was right from the heart."

Hours later, news just got better. Cameron eventually made it off the plane and the reunion was a go.

Of all places in the world the sisters could have met, Peters said they chose Hawai'i because of their brother, David Dans: They wanted to see what it was that had captured their brother's heart.

And they ended up learning about the spirit of aloha, Peters said.

As for Schweizer, she said she learned something, too.

"It felt good being able to help another human being," she said. "It felt good."

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.