TOKYO — Australia, Britain and Germany advised their citizens in Japan to consider leaving Tokyo and earthquake-affected areas, joining a growing number of governments and businesses telling their people it may be safer elsewhere.

The advisories came as the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in the northeast deepened in the wake of last week’s earthquake and tsunami.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, however, said its advice to Australians had nothing to do with the threat of nuclear contamination from the damaged plant.

“We are providing this advice because of the continuing disruption to major infrastructure, its impact on the welfare of people on the ground and continuing aftershocks,” its notice said.

Tokyo, which is about 140 miles south of the stricken nuclear complex, reported slightly elevated radiation levels Tuesday. Officials said the increase was too small to threaten the 39 million people in and around the capital, but some countries have relocated their embassy staffs or suggested their citizens leave the area.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry advised its citizens living near the nuclear plant or in the capital region to either leave the country or move to the Osaka area west of Tokyo.

Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke said an estimated 5,000 Germans were in Japan before the earthquake, but now only about 1,000 are believed to remain in and around the capital. Germany’s embassy in Tokyo also has been “partly relocated” to the consulate general in Osaka, Peschke said.

Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office advised against all nonessential travel to Tokyo and northeastern Japan, and urged British citizens within that zone to consider leaving.

France has urged its citizens with no reason to stay in Tokyo to return to France or head to southern Japan. The government has asked Air France to mobilize aircraft in Asia to assist with departures.
Other governments, including the United States, are taking a more measured approach.

The White House recommended Wednesday that U.S. citizens stay 50 miles away from the stricken nuclear plant, not the 20-mile radius recommended by the Japanese.

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