With virtually all of the 30,000 or so dead now buried and an official mourning period ended, officials said a special committee had been formed to oversee plans for the rebuilding of the southeastern city and its ancient citadel.

"They have given themselves one month to come up with that plan," said Jesper Lund, a United Nations official in charge of the international relief effort.

Half the reconstruction cost, at the moment estimated to total at least 4,000 billion rials (400 million euros, 500 million dollars), would come from "external sources", Lund explained.

But Iranian authorities appeared undecided over whether the city should be put up again on the same site, with fears over its stability compounded by the dozens of powerful aftershocks that have hit the area since the December 26 devastation.

The latest aftershock, measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale, struck late on Saturday, the official news agency IRNA reported.

After days of clearing away rubble and frantic searching for bodies among the ruins, the rhythm of life was slowly returning to normal here -- with the focus shifting to the thousands of survivors who have spent more than a week under canvas in freezing conditions.

Thousands have fled the city in fear of more destruction, but most of the 40,000 people who survived the initial quake have been camping outside the ruins of their homes in order to protect what remains of their properties.

The provincial judiciary said Sunday that security forces have arrested 140 looters since the quake struck, with the culprits transferred to the nearby city of Kerman and set to be "tried quickly".

Only a few families have taken up home in a new settlement of 200 tents. The UN estimates a total of 15,000 "living units" will be needed in the coming weeks.

"Life is coming back, structures are coming back," Lund said. "The target is to get everybody a more permanent shelter before the end of March."

According to Denis McLean, a spokesman for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), aid workers have so far distributed over 90,000 tents, 200,000 blankets, 54,000 items of clothing, 5,000 pairs of shoes and 500 tonnes of rices and other basic foodstuffs.

Authorities have also begun registering survivors, with 50,000 new identity cards distributed. Banks and even the local post office have also reopened amidst the rubble, while classes were also due to be reopened -- even though local council official Ali Shafiie some 9,000 students and 2,000 teachers were killed.

With the help of UNICEF, the United Nations children's body, schools are expected to reopen schools in prefabricated classrooms.

The official news agency IRNA said some 30 percent of the city -- which suffered around 80 percent destruction -- had yet to be searched. It estimated some 2,000 to 3,000 more bodies could still be found.

TERRA.WIRE