Chinese authorities activated a national disaster alert and response mechanism for Typhoon Mawar Saturday to help local civil affairs departments prepare for relief work.

Civil affairs departments in southern provinces including Fujian and Guangdong should remain on duty around the clock, according to a notice issued by China National Commission for Disaster Reduction, in coordination with the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

The notice asked local authorities to publicize forecasts regarding Mawar and its predicted routes to enable residents to move to safe places and ships to return to harbor.

Local departments should inform residents to stockpile enough daily necessities for one to three days, it said, adding relief materials and funds should also be prepared to guarantee the basic requirements of disaster-hit residents.

Mawar is the 16th typhoon to hit China this year. It is forecast to make landfall in Guangdong Province on Sunday.

Nine people are dead and one remains missing after torrential rain hit Sichuan and Guizhou provinces in southwest China, authorities said Saturday.

In Sichuan, seven people are dead and another missing after rain triggered flooding and landslides since Friday, provincial civil affairs authorities said in a statement.

Torrential rain has affected 165,000 people in 35 county-level areas, with more than 6,800 residents evacuated, the statement said.

Over 4,300 hectares of crops have been damaged, of which 700 hectares were destroyed, it said.

In Guizhou Province, two people were buried when a house collapsed in Qianxi Township in the city of Bijie late Friday. The two bodies were recovered from the debris around 6 a.m. Saturday, according to a spokesperson with the local government.

Several townships in the district received more than 100 mm of rainfall within six hours. The local weather bureau issued a red alert, the highest in China’s four-tier warning system, for heavy rain on Friday.

Disaster relief materials including tents, blankets and rice have been delivered to the affected townships.