NATO is to hold an emergency meeting on the Libyan crisis later on Friday, diplomats in Brussels said, DPA reported.
The military alliance aims to become the key meeting point for all debates on security in and around Europe. The eruption of violence in Libya has come as a direct challenge to that ambition.
Ambassadors of NATO nations will meet at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels at 4.30 pm (1530 GMT), diplomats from national delegations said.
The meeting is likely to discuss "a range of options" for NATO action in the Mediterranean, including coordinating rescue and evacuation operations between individual nations, diplomats said.
The European Union, also based in Brussels, has already activated a disaster-response system which makes it easier for member states to share resources such as evacuation ships and aircraft.
NATO, with a far greater military capacity, has both more assets which could be deployed and more experience in coordinating large-scale operations.
The NATO move comes as meanwhile European Union defence ministers were meeting at Godollo, outside the Hungarian capital Budapest, where discussions were also expected to concern the Libyan turmoil.
The EU's chief foreign policy official, Catherine Ashton, said as the Godollo meeting was getting under way that the EU was planning a package of sanctions against Libya in order to build up pressure on the country to end the violence.