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Due to our growing exposure and vulnerability to natural hazards, it is increasingly important for local government to have tools to better understand natural hazard risk and enable effective emergency management. One such tool is risk modelling, an innovative way for local government to assess, prioritize, communicate and manage its natural hazard risks. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 reflects the importance of risk modelling, where it calls for the development, application and strengthening of models for disaster risk management at the global and regional level. A variety of natural hazard risk modelling tools have been developed, which are increasingly used by government and private organizations. However, to date little research has gone into how effective risk modelling is as a tool to support local government emergency management. This presentation shares the results from recent research on understanding the perceptions that local government emergency managers have on the value of risk modelling tools. While emergency managers see the value in the use of risk modelling relating to communication, decision-making, planning and emergency response purposes, they also see a number of challenges. Challenges identified for the use of risk modelling relate to how emergency management and natural hazard risk is perceived and managed, issues with connecting information and developing data, and the capability of risk modelling software. However, with ongoing mutual engagement, risk modelling can become an effective tool to communicate natural hazard risk and better inform emergency management policy and procedure.