BEIJING, July 16  -- Disaster relief departments along China's southern coast have been asked to stand by around the clock as Typhoon Rammasun approaches.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs and national disaster relief committee have initiated a quick response program to supervise preparation for the typhoon, said a ministry statement Wednesday.

Civil affairs departments of south China's Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan as well as southwest China's Guizhou and Yunnan provinces will closely monitor the development of the typhoon and carry out precautionary measures such as evacuating residents along the coast and returning ships to harbors, the statement said.

The center of Typhoon Rammasun, with a wind force of 40 meters per second, had left the Philippines and entered the South China Sea by 8 a.m. Wednesday, according to the weather forecast agency.

It is moving toward the Chinese coast at a speed of 25 to 30 km per hour and likely to land on the Hainan and Guangdong coast early Friday morning.

The typhoon made landfall in the northern Philippines Tuesday afternoon, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, and three fishermen went missing in the northern Philippine province of Catanduanes.