Foreign embassies and multinational companies in Japan were on Tuesday scrambling to make sense of the escalating crisis and how to help staff after the earthquake, tsunami and explosions at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The Chinese embassy offered to help evacuate its citizens from four of the areas worst hit by the tsunami – Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaragi and Iwate. A posting on its website said it would help Chinese citizens to leave the area “due to the uncertainties and severe situation due to the Fukushima nuclear plant accident”.

The move followed a warning from the French embassy on Monday to its nationals to leave Tokyo, citing concerns about further earthquakes. On Tuesday the US advised its citizens to defer non-essential travel to Japan.