Aims and objectives To develop a Chinese version of the Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool and validate its psychometric properties. Background An adequate disaster preparation programme for nurses has not been developed in Taiwan. To develop an exhaustive and effective educational programme on disaster preparation for nurses, a multidimensional instrument is required for assessing the disaster preparation level of nurses. Design A cross‐sectional study was conducted. Methods In total, 1550 of 2226 public health nurses in 15 counties completed the self‐administrated questionnaire. We randomly selected 805 samples to examine the factor structure and factor model by using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The convergent validity was measured using the average variance extracted and composite reliability. Results Five factors, namely postdisaster management, skills, knowledge of self‐preparation in a disaster, knowledge to respond in the community, and knowledge to respond in the workplace, were extracted, and explained 65·13% of the total variance. An acceptable model fit was identified using confirmatory factor analysis. The Cronbach's α coefficient of the Chinese version of the Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool was 0·97. Significant values of the average variance extracted greater than 0·5 indicated convergent validity. Conclusion The Chinese version of the Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring disaster preparation. Relevance to clinical practice The Chinese version of the Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool provides reliable and valid measures that can be used to evaluate the disaster preparedness of nurses. The items in the instrument can be used to identify the dimension of disaster management in all stages, and can form the essential foundation of an education and training programme for public health nurses to reduce the harm of disasters and promote community resilience.