The Earthquake in Chile (German: Das Erdbeben in Chili) is a short story written by Heinrich von Kleist (1777–1811) and published in 1807.
[1] The following morning, the couple is approached by Don Fernando who asks Josephe to breast feed his son, Juan, since his wife, Donna Elvira, has been injured in the earthquake.
Jeronimo and Josephe decide to go to Concepción and write to the Viceroy of Santiago to ask permission to stay in Chile.
The sermon compares the earthquake to God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and speaks specifically of Josephe and Jeronimo's sin.
Donna Constanza, who had been walking with Jeronimo, runs to Don Alonzo, but is mistaken for Josephe and is also clubbed to death.
Don Fernando defends the children with his sword but eventually his son, Juan, is torn from his grasp and bashed against a pillar.
"[3] Helma Sanders-Brahms wrote and directed Earthquake in Chile (1975), a telefilm of this story shot in Spain and West Germany.