Nurses are fundamental to the emergency response to a disaster both man-made and natural. Nurses can play many roles in the event of a disaster but one of the most important jobs of the nurse is to initiate the emergency disaster plan within their organizations. Nurses will also triage patients, provide emergency treatment for injured individuals, help coordinate emergency evacuation and transportation of patients to nearby facilities, and also provide support to the patients, the patients families, and their peers. In an emergency as a nurse, it is important to care for your patients first, as stated in the ANA Code of Ethics Provision 2. However, it also states in Provision 5 that the nurse owes the same duty to self. I believe that this is referring to how nurses need to take care of themselves so that they can provide the best care for their patients. It is comforting to know that due to most nurse’s compassionate nature that they are willing to respond in a disaster situation, but a disaster especially one with mass causality or large destruction can be a very difficult call to respond to as a nurse, especially when the nurse themselves feel in danger. It is because of this that nurses must not only care for their patients but also themselves, and even more so in a disaster situation whether it is natural or man-made.