The article explores the ways that women participants and empowerment centres have introduced women's empowerment as a key intervention in disaster risk reduction. This is in response to the social norms in Nepalese and South Asian cultures that lead to increased vulnerability for women during disasters. The women's empowerment centres are a successful means of reducing vulnerability in a community and improving women's empowerment and leadership opportunities. It also improves women know who the relevant people are in a disaster, raising their awareness of the issues.