demand as China evacuates its nationals from the quake hit nation's disaster zone.

The state run China National Radio also reported that two ships able to transport a total of 4,000 people were on standby in the eastern city of Yantai and planned to sail on Wednesday to bring back Chinese citizens.

Beijing has begun helping its nationals leave disaster hit areas in Japan, where a 9.0 magnitude quake and ensuing tsunami have left more than 10,000 dead or missing and triggered a crisis at a nuclear plant.

China Southern said it had added one flight each to the Japanese capital Tokyo and to Niigata on the country's west coast "to bring back affected nationals."

China Eastern, another state owned airline, said it had added one flight to Japan, while flag carrier Air China said it was replacing some of its planes servicing Japanese routes with bigger models to accommodate demand.

Air China has cancelled several of its daily flights to and from Japan since the disaster struck on Friday, citing safety fears at Japanese airports.

A Chinese media report earlier said there were about 33,000 Chinese

nationals living in five disaster hit Japanese prefectures.