Precious historical documents: T. Torrance’s The Tieh-chi earthquake of August 1933 and afterwards

British missionary T. Torrance lived in Sichuan, China for a long time, and he personally experienced the Diexi (Tieh-chi) earthquake in Sichuan Province in 1933. In July 1934, he visited the site of the earthquake, then wrote the article The Tieh-chi earthquake of August 1933 and afterwards, which was published in the The West China Missionary News in November of the same year. Torrance’s life and his experience during the Diexi earthquake are introduced, and the main contents of the article The Tieh-chi earthquake of August 1933 and afterwards are disclosed and reviewed. Description of the Diexi earthquake disaster and its secondary flood in Torrance’s article is basically objective and true. Many details can be verified with geologist Chang Longqing’s Investigation report on Diexi earthquake of Sichuan and the research results of later generations. It has a certain scientific value, is also precious earthquake historical documents. Besides, some suggestions are put forward for further excavation of historical earthquake documents.