This community based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted inrnAddis Ababa to assess hazards, vulnerability, and capacities for disaster preventionrnand emergency preparedness. The study was conducted in 720 households selectedrnby multiple stage sampling from 30 Kebeles of which 647(90%) responded, and inrn66 institutions of which 55(83.3 %) responded. The most frequent and most worryingrnhazards identified were !lood, tire, outbreak of diseases and car accidents. Thesernfour hazards had caused signilicant number of injuries, deaths, and a large amountrnof property losses in the past live years. The main factors of vulnerability identiliedrnwere: unemployment, monthly income below the minimum government wage salary,rnilliteracy, and housing crowdedness with difficult road access. The capacities forrnpreparedness, as measured by awareness of causes and prevention methods,rnavailability of resources, and presence of a preparedness plan were as follows: thernmajority of the respondents were aware of the causes and prevention methods for thernidentitied hazards, but the prioritization of concerns did not correspond to the extentrnof damage that the different hazards had caused. The Majority of the organizationsrnclaimed having various shortages of resources for response. Although most of thernorganizations had no written preparedness plans, minority did have a writtenrnpreparedness plan which can be a good example to the rest. Overall, much needs tornbe done on disaster prevention and emergency preparedness as most organizationsrnlack the capacities for preparedness. A number of measures can contribute to disasterrnprevention and emergency preparedness. These measures include: Public educationrnthrough mass media on prevention and preparedness; strict traffic regulationsrnenforced by traftic police; strict licence issuance system; construction of fioodrnprotection walls; and strengthening the capacities of specilic service organizations forrnresponse and encouraging them to have a written preparedness plan.