Dual typhoons kill 64 in China

The body count from super typhoon Rammasun in China has reached 62 with another 21 people still missing, while typhoon Matmo has claimed two lives, according to latest official figures.

The strongest typhoon hitting south China in four decades, Rammasun brought gales, downpours and floods, affecting over 11 million people in the provinces of Guangdong, Hainan, and Yunnan as well as Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said in a statement on Friday.

A total of 862,000 people have been resettled and some 261,000 are in urgent need of basic necessities. The typhoon also caused direct economic losses of 38.5 billion yuan (6.25 billion U.S. dollars).

Roads, power and water supplies, and telecommunications in affected areas have been badly damaged.

The ministry said it has allocated 710 million yuan to subsidize displaced residents in central and southern parts of the country.

The funds will be used to resettle residents, subsidize their living expenses, rebuild collapsed and damaged housing, and console the relatives of victims.

Meanwhile, a separate Friday statement from the ministry said two people were killed and another two were missing as the impact of typhoon Matmo extends to the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong and Guangdong.

Guangdong and Jiangxi each reported one death.

As of 9 a.m. on Friday, more than one million people in the six provinces had been affected by the typhoon, with 251,000 relocated and some 2,800 in urgent need of basic living supplies, it said.

Destroying houses and crops, Matmo has caused direct economic losses worth 840 million yuan.

Natural disasters, including floods, hail, typhoons and earthquakes, have affected 120 million people this year in China, leaving 533 people dead and 97 missing, figures from the ministry show.

The ministry has launched 15 emergency response programs and worked with the Ministry of Finance to provide 1.97 billion yuan to affected people.