Objective To describe disaster preparedness of clinical nurses. Methods A total of 270 clinical nurses were selected from 5 tertiary hospitals of northern Jiangsu province using convenience sampling method, and were invited to complete the Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool. Results The average score of disaster preparedness was （185.43±31.42）. Professional title, experience in disaster rescue, and disaster education were factors affecting nurses′ disaster preparedness （P＜0.05，P＜0.01）. Conclusion Nurses in the study revealed that they were not sufficiently prepared for disasters. Nursing administrators should provide appropriate disaster nursing education and build systematic training system to promote disaster preparedness of nurses.