diff --git a/seahub/utils/__init__.py b/seahub/utils/__init__.py
index 72f04b4d4a..435e758cf0 100644
--- a/seahub/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/seahub/utils/__init__.py
@@ -61,8 +61,12 @@ except ImportError:
 
 # init Seafevents API
 if EVENTS_CONFIG_FILE:
-    from seafevents import seafevents_api
-    seafevents_api.init(EVENTS_CONFIG_FILE)
+    try:
+        from seafevents import seafevents_api
+        seafevents_api.init(EVENTS_CONFIG_FILE)
+    except ImportError:
+        logging.exception('Failed to import seafevents package.')
+        seafevents_api = None
 else:
     class RPCProxy(object):
         def __getattr__(self, name):
@@ -554,10 +558,14 @@ if EVENTS_CONFIG_FILE:
     parsed_events_conf = ConfigParser.ConfigParser()
     parsed_events_conf.read(EVENTS_CONFIG_FILE)
 
-    import seafevents
-
-    EVENTS_ENABLED = True
-    SeafEventsSession = seafevents.init_db_session_class(EVENTS_CONFIG_FILE)
+    try:
+        import seafevents
+        EVENTS_ENABLED = True
+        SeafEventsSession = seafevents.init_db_session_class(EVENTS_CONFIG_FILE)
+    except ImportError:
+        logging.exception('Failed to import seafevents package.')
+        seafevents = None
+        EVENTS_ENABLED = False
 
     @contextlib.contextmanager
     def _get_seafevents_session():