My late wife was a native of Chile. In early 2010 she was in Chile with her adult daughter and three of her grandchildren, on a bit of a road trip, when the 8.8-scale earthquake struck on 27 February (my birthday!). That was a Saturday, and the quake hit at about 03:30 a.m. I woke up to the news that there had been a very serious earthquake, and I knew that my family was in the area that was hardest hit. There was no news getting out of that part (or most other parts) of Chile, so I didn't know if they were okay, injured, or (God forbid) dead. My wife's brother and sister and their families live in Santiago, which was also hit hard enough to knock out power and communications but which didn't cause huge amounts of structural damage. I was able to contact a cousin of my wife's, who is a professor at a university in Mexico City. He didn't have any news from Chile, either. This went on for several days. By Thursday or Friday there were reports that power and communications were back on line in Santiago, so I decided to call my brother-in-law even though I don't speak much Spanish and he didn't speak any English. I called, his wife answered, and as soon as she recognized my voice she said "Estan en Santiago! Todas estan securas!" ("They are in Santiago. Everyone is safe.") The next day my wife sent me a long e-mail describing their ordeal -- and it was indeed an ordeal. My wife died unexpectedly in 2014. I have the e-mail she sent me with the story of their escape from the terramoto. Translated from Spanish into English, it's 1354 words. Much too short to be used as a book (unless it was used as the core plot for a novel and greatly expanded upon, but I had in mind doing something with her words, as a kind of memorial), but I wonder if there's enough to be a short story. Is 1354 words enough, or is that insufficient to be even a short story?
Doing that would be a good way of remembering and in a way honouring your wife, in my opinion. I don't think you have enough for an entire book, but I guess that really depends on the content. But it might do as a short story. Perhaps a local newspaper would be willing to publish it? Or some magazine on an anniversary of the quake? There are some guidelines as to how long a short story should be, but as the name suggest, they are merely guidelines. Some may suggest that 1354 words aren't enough(Writer's Digest), but I would say that it depends on the story. I would recommend to go for it.
Apart from anything else, if I were you (if you haven't already) I would make sure to have a printed copy of that precious email as I never trust computers 100%. Good luck, whatever you do with the story. I'm sure you will do it justice.
