A 33-tonne shipment of German aid including three water purification stations took off behind schedule from Frankfurt-Hahn airport and was expected to reach Bam by 16:00 GMT Sunday, a spokesman for German relief organization THW said.

The German foreign ministry said the supplies would provide emergency medical care for 20,000 people for three months, as well as over 350,000 litres of clean water per day.

The ministry said that some 70 Germans would be taking part in disaster relief efforts in Iran by Sunday night, including a 30-strong search and rescue team sent by THW on Saturday.

But the most recent international aid contributions were less of a search and rescue nature and more in the line of a general relief effort.

A group of aid workers who left for Iran early Sunday from Budapest were expected to help with medical care only, a Hungarian aid official said.

"Iranian authorities told us that they were not in need of sniffer dogs, but doctors, which is why we are sending this personnel," Leszlo Palve said.

The group, financed by a 15,000 Euro donation from a private Hungarian charity and made up of four doctors, two assistants, and an interpreter, will not be searching for survivors, he said.

The UN said it expected search and rescue operations to end on Sunday and there was no need to rush more international rescue teams to the area.

Greenland, a self governing Danish territory, planned to contribute to international aid efforts by sending 600 sheep skins, the Danish agency Ritzau reported Sunday.

TERRA.WIRE