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This year marks the 15th anniversary of the OpenQuake Engine, GEM’s open-source software for seismic hazard and risk assessment. Since the start of open source development in 2010 and the release of the first version in 2014, the Engine has grown into a globally recognised platform used by scientists, engineers, insurers, and policymakers across continents. Its evolution reflects not only advances in modelling but also the growing need to translate science into tools that strengthen resilience in communities at risk.

From Science to Society

Over the past decade, the OpenQuake Engine has expanded well beyond modelling the hazard and risk to buildings due to earthquake ground shaking. It now includes modules for earthquake-triggered landslides and liquefaction, infrastructure risk and network connectivity, post-event loss amplification, and financial loss calculations for insurance and reinsurance. Other enhancements include site amplification analysis, the ability to condition ground motion fields on station data, and probabilistic damage calculators that can be applied to both the hazards from earthquakes and volcanoes.

Behind these technical features lies a clear purpose: to enable decision-makers at global, regional, national, and local levels to anticipate the consequences of earthquakes and to plan accordingly. At the scale of a city, the OpenQuake Engine can estimate how a single earthquake might disrupt schools, hospitals, or transport networks. At national and regional levels, it informs seismic building codes, risk financing, prioritisation of retrofitting solutions and preparedness strategies. Globally, it harmonises models into a shared framework, enabling comparisons and cooperation across borders.

In everyday terms, these capabilities support safer housing policies, better-informed insurance products, more resilient infrastructure investments, and, ultimately, lives saved when earthquakes strike.

A Call for Resilience

The 2025 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) carries the theme “Fund Resilience, Not Disasters.” The message is simple but urgent: the escalating costs of disasters demand a shift from reactive aid to proactive investment in disaster risk reduction.

The OpenQuake Engine embodies this principle. It equips governments and organisations with the evidence needed to allocate budgets wisely, ensure that development is risk-informed, and channel private sector investment toward resilience rather than recovery. Its open-source nature and broad adoption – documented in more than 100 peer-reviewed journal publications worldwide – make it a shared resource that amplifies collective capacity to manage seismic risk.

Invitation to Learn More

To mark the OpenQuake Engine’s 15th anniversary and IDDRR 2025, GEM will host a webinar showcasing the Engine’s evolution, real-world applications, and plans for the future. Participants will hear from GEM experts and practitioners who are applying OpenQuake to build resilience at multiple scales.

We invite you to join this conversation on October 13, 2025, 15:00 – 16:00 CEST, and see first-hand how open science tools can help bridge the gap between seismic modelling and safer, more resilient societies.

Register for the webinar here:

https://www.globalquakemodel.org/gemevents/oq-engine-15-iddrr2025