Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the contents of disaster nursing education at universities in Korea and Japan, with focus on textbooks. Methods: Disaster nursing contents from 11 Korean community health nursing textbooks and 3 Japanese disaster nursing textbooks were analysed. Results: Three themes and 8 categories of disaster nursing content in the selected textbooks were analyzed. The themes classified include ‘understanding of disaster’, ‘disaster management’ and ‘disaster management system’. The theme of ‘understanding of disaster’ consists of such categories as ‘disaster concept/outline’, ‘classification of disaster’, ‘disaster management step’ and ‘disaster impact’. The theme of ‘disaster management activities’ consists of categories such as ‘disaster management activities’ and ‘disaster nursing’. The theme of ‘national disaster management system’ consists of categories like ‘national disaster management system’ and ‘international disaster relief’. From the comparison of disaster nursing education in the two countries, we found that themes were similar but there were differences between the two countries in content configuration. Korea and Japan have adopted the framework of International Council of Nurses for disaster nursing education. Korea stressed legal and ethical capabilities, while Japan included psychological support for disaster management service providers. Conclusion: Disaster education is an important factor in a nurse’s ability for a disaster management. Development of a comprehensive disaster education program is necessary to enhance disaster care capacities.