Objective To provide references for fast assessment after disasters in China by assessing articles on fast assessment of health needs after disasters. Methods We systematically searched CNKI, VIP, CBM, and PubMed from their establishments to Jan. 2011. The main results of the eligible articles were described. Results A total of 65 articles were included, of which introductions for methodology and cross-sectional studies accounted for 52.31% and 44.62%, respectively. Articles which focused on natural disasters made up 86.15% of the total. Post-disaster rapid assessment should include seismic death estimate and on-site public health assessment which contained the public health status in affected areas, health coping capacity, health condition of victims and health needs. Rapid assessment of seismic death mainly used methods based on GIS and ANN model. On-site public health assessment mainly used epidemiological field investigation. Questionnaires, interviews and surveillance of diseases were adopted. Conclusion Rapid post-disaster health needs assessment is one of the most important tasks after disasters, and the current rapid assessment methods need to be refined and improved.