Extreme disasters in China are characterized by high frequency, concurrent hazards, and chain transmission, making it urgent to develop a modern emergency rescue system. Reshaping and upgrading the modernization level of the emergency rescue system from the perspective of digital and intelligent governance has become a core issue in the construction of the emergency management system. Focusing on digital and intelligent governance for emergency rescue, this study analyzes its theoretical implications, clarifies the demand characteristics from multi-dimensional perspectives, reviews the development status in terms of full-domain perception, survivable communication, unified command, intelligent decision-making, collaborative operation, and precise allocation, and points out that it will evolve in the directions of panoramic, intelligent, precise, edge-oriented, resilient, and integrated development. The study holds that in the “intelligence‒command‒execution” chain of emergency rescue under the “three disruptions” (i.e., disruptions of roads, electricity, and Internet access) scenario, the capabilities of full-domain perception and communication guarantee need to be strengthened in the “intelligence” system; the capabilities of unified collaboration, precision, and efficiency need to be improved in the “command” system; and the efficiency of task synergy and orderly support needs to be enhanced in the “execution” system. Furthermore, targeted construction ideas are proposed: developing a modern emergency rescue system with data-driven, intelligent empowerment, and collaborative efficiency as the core features, to enhance the system’s resilience and precise disposal capacity in response to major disasters; and constructing a parallel and integrated framework of “strategic guidance‒organizational management‒science and technology” for digital and intelligent governance of emergency rescue, thereby forming a new governance paradigm that serves emergency rescue tasks. Therefore, it is suggested to strengthen digital supervision to improve the full-domain perception and communication guarantee capabilities of the emergency management system; establish an emergency command center to enhance the system’s capacities in collaborative research and scientific decision-making; promote the digital and intelligent integration of equipment and material support to strengthen the efficiency of rescue operations; and improve the industrial support system to boost the high-quality development of the emergency digital and intelligent industry.