Ministry of Civil Affairs confirmed that typhoon Hagupit had caused five deaths and two missing in south China as of 17:00 on Wednesday.

There had been 8,497,000 disaster-affected residents in south China's Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces and 387,400 have been evacuated to safe locations, according to the ministry.

The calamity had destroyed 14,333 houses, caused a direct economic loss of 5.772 billion yuan (about 824 million U.S. dollars), it said.

The local authority, Guangdong Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, said in a statement released on Wednesday evening that the Hagupit claimed six lives in the province.

According to the National Meteorological Center, Hagupit, the 14th strong typhoon of the year, landed in the city of Maoming of Guangdong Province at 6:45 on Wednesday morning with winds of more than 48 meters per second in its eye, and downgraded to a severe tropical storm at 2 p.m..

To deal with the disaster, the ministry and members of the country's disaster reduction committee responded in line with the national emergency plans for natural calamities at 17:30 by sending working teams to the disaster affected zones and help the local governments with the relief work.

(Xinhua News Agency September 25, 2008)