UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's spokesman said the grant had come from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and that the world body was trying to mobilise international assistance to help.

"The secretary general was distressed to learn of the devastating casualties and damage caused by the earthquake in southeastern Iran," Annan spokesman Fred Eckhard said in a statement.

"He conveys his deepest condolences and sympathy to the government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran and to the victims of the disaster."

TERRA.WIRE