Fellow feeling California escapes disaster (5)
I believe the answer is:
amity
'fellow feeling' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'california escapes disaster' is the wordplay.
'california' becomes 'cal' (short for California).
'escapes' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'disaster' becomes 'calamity' (synonyms).
'calamity' with 'cal' taken away is 'AMITY'.
(Other definitions for amity that I've seen before include "Friendly feeling, fraternity" , "Friendliness" , "Cordiality" , "warmth" , "Cordial friendship" .)