Criteria for when to conduct post-earthquake inspections of a dam are required to identify earthquakes that have a reasonable potential for causing damage to the dam. These criteria are typically included in a Trigger Action Response Plan (TARP), which describes pre-defined risk management actions to be taken in response to various triggers indicating performance outside the expected range. Earthquake TARPs should take into account the seismic setting, site conditions, risk level of the dam, and the presence or absence of site personnel. Many dams do not have seismic monitoring instruments, and reliable estimates of earthquake shaking intensity may not be available from site data or regional measurements. A methodology for selecting trigger levels for post-earthquake inspection of dams was developed, based on using published earthquake ground motion models to evaluate what combinations of magnitude and distance are expected to produce a threshold level of shaking at the dam. This approach assumes no information about the level of shaking at the dam is available from site personnel or seismic instrumentation in the area. Examples are presented using a threshold peak ground acceleration, and an alternative method that uses a seismic slope displacement model to select a threshold spectral acceleration based on displacement criteria.