Abstract:  Crises occur more often in modern society. The speed of governmental emergency response is constrained, but the potential for emergency response by the public is great. It is vital for the government to extend emergency management work downward to the public, that is, to strengthen the public’s emergency participation and emergency capacity through publicity, training, emergency team building in primary level and so on, so as to respond to public emergencies in a timely and effective way. The impact of extending governmental emergency management work downward on the public’s emergency capacity is empirically tested, and based on the crisis learning theory, its underlying mechanism is further explored. Results show that extending governmental emergency management work downward can significantly improve the public’s emergency capacity and the crisis learning ability plays a mediating role. The education and income level of the public has a significant impact on their emergency capacity. The government should increase the frequency of the public’s participation in emergency management practice, cultivate their crisis learning ability, and improve their emergency response capacity, especially in the aspect of mutual rescue.

Key words: emergency management, governmental emergency management work extended downward, crisis learning ability, the public’s emergency capacity