1st Ld: China activates emergency response for Typhoon Meranti

China on Tuesday morning initiated emergency response measures for the approaching Typhoon Meranti.

Local authorities in the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian,Guangdong, Hainan as well as Shanghai will closely monitor the typhoon and release information as it comes in, according to a circular released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the National Commission for Disaster Reduction (NCDR).

The NCDR has asked authorities in areas in the typhoon's path to prepare aid and relief.

Typhoon Meranti will make landfall in south China's Guangdong or Fujian provinces during the day on Thursday, meteorological authorities forecast.

If it lands in eastern Guangdong, it will become the strongest typhoon to churn ashore there in 47 years, said Zhang Dong, a forecaster with the Guangdong provincial meteorologic station.

"It only took nine hours for Meranti to grow into a super typhoon from a typhoon," he said. "Packing winds between 202 to 220 kilometers per hour, it is interacting with another storm, Malakas, 1,000 kilometers away, and the route could be hard to predict."

China's State Oceanic Administration issued a wave warning on Tuesday afternoon, as the Bashi Strait and northeast part of the South China Sea can expect waves eight to 13 meters high.

Provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters in Guangdong asked fishing boats to return and take shelter, and management of tourist activities on beaches should be tightened to brace for the typhoon. Endi