Objective  To establish an evaluation index system for the emergency management ability of public emergencies in cities, improve the emergency management ability of local governments, and meet the needs of national emergency management construction.

  Methods  According to the relevant national regulations and standards, and referring to the available literature, on the basis of expert group review, the evaluation index system of emergency management ability of urban public emergencies in Nanning was preliminarily established. A total of 81 valid questionnaires were distributed, and SPSS 20.0 statistical software was used to analyze the reliability and validity of the index system; yaahp software was used to determine the weights of various indicators of urban emergency management capacity by analytic hierarchy process (AHP).

  Results  The preliminary evaluation system included 4 primary indicators and 34 secondary indicators. After reliability and validity analysis, four secondary indicators were deleted, and finally an evaluation index system of urban public emergency management ability with 4 primary indicators and 30 secondary indicators was constructed. The primary indicators and their weights determined by the analytic hierarchy process were: "accident prevention" with 7 secondary indicators (weight 0.433 5), "emergency preparedness" with 7 secondary indicators (weight 0.311 2), "emergency disposal" with 9 secondary indicators (weight 0.203 4), and "recovery and reconstruction" with 7 secondary indicators (weight 0.051 9). Among the secondary indicators, the indicators with a weight of more than 0.05 were: laws and regulations (weight 0.091 6), technical supervision of public emergencies (weight 0.085 6), establishment of emergency agencies (weight 0.068 5), establishment of monitoring and early warning system (weight 0.066 8), implementation of responsibility for public emergencies (weight 0.057 9), management and control of hazardous places under the jurisdiction (weight 0.057 8), risk assessment and control under the jurisdiction (weight 0.053 1), preparation of emergency plan (weight 0.051 6) and major disaster insurance (weight 0.050 2).

  Conclusions  The evaluation system of urban emergency management ability based on reliability and structural validity is scientific and in line with the guidelines and strategies of emergency management in China. In the process of building the emergency system, it is very important to improve and perfect the laws and regulations, set up the emergency organization and plan the rights and responsibilities, and give full play to the role of the insurance mechanism in the emergency management.