# 2. Introduction

At the core of the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) is the development of state-of-the-art modeling capabilities and a suite of software tools that can be utilized worldwide for the assessment and communication of earthquake risk. For a more holistic assessment of the scale and consequences of earthquake impacts, a set of methods, metrics, and tools are incorporated into the GEM modelling framework to assess earthquake impact potential beyond direct physical impacts and loss of life. This is because with increased exposure of people, livelihoods, and property to earthquakes, the potential for social and economic impacts of earthquakes cannot be ignored. Not only is it vital to evaluate and benchmark the conditions within social systems that lead to adverse earthquake impacts and loss, it is equally important to measure the capacity of populations to respond to damaging events and to provide a set of metrics for priority setting and decision-making.

The employment of a methodology and workflow necessary for the evaluation of seismic risk that is integrated and holistic begins with the OpenQuake Integrated Risk Modelling Toolkit (OpenQuake IRMT). The OpenQuake IRMT is QGIS plugin that was developed by the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation and co-designed by GEM and the Center for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction Technology (CEDIM).

The OpenQuake IRMT plugin has evolved significantly with respect to its original purposes, in order to make it operate seamlessly with the OpenQuake Engine (OQ-engine) ([PMW+14] and [SCP+14]). This enables a whole end-to-end workflow, where calculations of physical hazard and risk can be run directly from within the QGIS environment (see Driving the OpenQuake Engine) and the outputs of such calculations can be loaded as QGIS vector layers. Those of them that can be visualized as maps (e.g. hazard maps) are also automatically styled with respect to fields selected by the user. Others can be plotted as curves (e.g. hazard curves) inside a Data Viewer window (see The OpenQuake IRMT Data Viewer) that was conceived for this purpose.

[PMW+14]

Pagani, M., Monelli, D., Weatherill, G., Danciu, L., Crowley, H., Silva, V., Henshaw, P., Butler, L., Nastasi, M., Panzeri, L., Simionato, M. and Vigano, V. OpenQuake Engine: An Open Hazard (and Risk) Software for the Global Earthquake Model. Seismological Research Letters, vol. 85 no. 3, 692-702

[SCP+14]

Silva, V., Crowley, H., Pagani, M., Monelli, D., and Pinho, R., 2014. Development of the OpenQuake engine, the Global Earthquake Model’s open-source software for seismic risk assessment. Natural Hazards 72(3), 1409-1427.