At present

there are a large number of earth and rockfill dams which are being built or will be built in the west of China

the high intensity area of earthquakes

so the aseismatic measures are very important for those dams.In this paper

the main failure modes of earth and rockfill dams due to earthquake were briefly reviewed

including earthquake-induced permanent deformation

landslide failure

liquefaction

anti-seepage damage

and secondary damage.According to those failure modes

the aseismatic measures of high earth and rockfill dams built in meizoseismal areas were summed up

including the reserved freeboard

toe weight

crest reinforcement

anti-liquefaction measures

seepage treatment.Then the merits and faults of current calculating methods and aseismatic measures of the high earth and rockfill dams were pointed out;at last

suggestions were put forward for the seismic stability study of high earth and rockfill dams in future.