After 18 months of consultations across six continents, we have the first glimpse of the new post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction (DRR). Released on the 8th August 2014 by the Thai and Finnish co-chairs of the Bureau overseeing the process, this pre-zero draft is the basis of a negotiating document to succeed the existing Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). It is dueto be agreed in March 2015 at the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR). But how good is this initial offering? What have the co-chairs got right and what do they need to improve?