With countries from across the world despatching medicines, food and emergency accommodation, the United Nations said it was now turning the focus of relief efforts away from searching for survivors to the recovery phase.

It said it would now concentrate on recovering bodies and sheltering the homeless amid reports that 1,000 people were pulled out of the ruins of Bam at the weekend following the earthquake in the early hours of Friday.

The giant US Hercules C-130 arrived in the city of Kerman in southeastern Iran early on Sunday carrying aid workers and medical material for rescue operations in Bam.

The aid delivery is a rare action of humanitarian support for Iran by the United States, which broke off diplomatic relations following the storming of the US embassy in Tehran by Islamic students in 1979.

The White House, which has classified Iran in an "axis of evil", has announced it is sending 200 emergency relief workers to the country and will deliver 68,000 kilos in medical supplies.

US President George W. Bush said he was "greatly saddened" by the earthquake and was ready to help the "people of Iran", although he made no mention of the Iranian government.

Egypt, which has also had no diplomatic ties with Iran since 1980, sent two military cargo planes with 10.5 tonnes of aid to the affected area in southeastern Iran.

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates, which has a dispute with the Islamic republic over three strategic Gulf islands, launched aid flights with the first delivery containing 30 tonnes of relief supplies.

Iran is accepting aid from all countries except Israel, which it does not recognise.

As the aid supplies started to arrive, the United Nations in Geneva said it expected that the search for survivors would end on Sunday, adding that it would be a "miracle" if any more people were pulled out of the ruins alive.

"There is an acceptance that we are coming out of the rescue phase and moving now into, unfortunately, the body recovery phase and then on to the longer phase of reconstruction," said Ted Pearn, the UN coordinator on site in Bam, reached by phone.

Pearn said that international aid workers were focusing on caring for the injured and ensuring homeless survivors were properly sheltered and fed amid freezing nighttime temperatures.

Many residents were still sleeping outside in Bam due to fears their buildings could yet collapse, he said. Further tremors were continuing to endanger the lives of locals and rescuers alike.

Three people were also killed when an Iranian navy helicopter crashed just outside Bam after delivering aid to the city, the student news agency ISNA reported.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had 35 tonnes of medical supplies, tents, blankets and bedding loaded ready to go in Jordan, while a 33-tonne shipment of German aid including three water purification stations took off at Frankfurt-Hahn airport.

Spain said it would give 20 million euros in humanitarian aid, while Kuwait sent the first of planes carrying food, blankets and medical equipment. Syria has despatched 40 tonnes of aid, mainly made up of medicines, and Tunisia also sent food, tents and blankets.

An appeal by the international Red Cross has already reached half its 15.4-million-Swiss-franc target (9.9 million euros, 12.3 million dollars), a spokeswoman said.

The appeal will be revised based on an evaluation by a Red Cross team that arrived in Bam Sunday, she added.

Meanwhile a report in Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said Tokyo was considering sending its Self-Defence Forces personnel to Iran to help in relief work.

The Indian state of Gujarat, the last place struck by an earthquake on a similar scale, offered to share its experience in tackling the aftermath of an earthquake with Iran.

TERRA.WIRE