Shahr-Banou Mazandarani, who was plucked from under a pile of dust and bricks on Saturday, was said to be in good health despite her ordeal and having suffered fractured limbs and dehydration.

"'I am very cold. Can I have a cup of tea?'" Denis McClean of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) quoted her as telling rescuers.

"'Has there been an earthquake?'" he quoted Mazandarani as asking the female Iranian Red Crescent worker who found her, Zohreh Shaahyar.

Dr Paul Odberg of the Norwegian Red Cross told reporters that the life of the woman, now a national celebrity, had been saved by "so many remarkable coincidences".

"They saw her hands sticking out of the rubble and they thought she was dead but when they tried to pull her out they found she was alive. She was trapped in her bed," Odberg said.

"Once she was out she was OK, but very tired. She has been fed and she is in good condition. Fortunately before the quake her family left food by her bed. She was wearing a lot of clothes and there was a blanket over her," he added, noting that older people also have slower metabolism.

"She gave the names of two of her sons and two of her grandchildren and the Red Crescent is trying to locate them."

"She cannot stand. She cannot remember anything from the earthquake."

More than 35,000 people are believed to have died in the quake, which struck the southern Iranian town before dawn on December 26.

Iranian state media has reported a number of "miracle" survivors after rescuers had all but abandoned hope of finding more people alive, including a pregnant woman and a young girl.

In addition to the fact that most people would have been asleep at the time, officials also attributed the high number of deaths to the mud-brick construction of so many buildings. The bricks tended to disintegrate, allowing less chance of air pockets forming.

The eldery woman survived thanks to the fact that she was under a piece of furniture, which formed an air pocket allowing her to breathe.

She also appears to have lost a few years after her ordeal: from behind her heavily wrinkled face and bright-blue headscarf, she told Iranian state television that she was only aged 50.

Foreign aid workers said they could not confirm if she was really 97, although one quipped: "She certainly looks it".

TERRA.WIRE