"I came to see how the relief work is going and also to introduce the second phase of launching an appeal of 90 days for further relief and reconstruction work," the UN under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, Jan Egeland, told reporters here.

He called on the international community for 30 million dollars for the United Nations and about another 40 million dollars for the Red Cross.

Egeland estimated 100 million dollars had already been pledged since the tragedy, calling it "an impressive international expression of solidarity."

The UN's World Health Organisation said four million dollars would be earmarked for medical relief over the next three months, but it warned that Bam would need 27 million to 30 million dollars in the subsequent year to rebuild hospitals and clinics wrecked in the disaster.

The massive earthquake that struck on December 26, killing more than 30,000 people, destroyed or damaged the city's three hospitals, 23 health centres and 95 smaller clinics, according to Mohammad Hossein Nicknam, an advisor at Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education.

Half of Bam's medical personnel also perished, Nicknam told reporters during a trip to Geneva where he is helping to coordinate the appeal.

Representatives from donor countries are due to meet at the UN's European headquarters in this Swiss city on Friday to discuss the relief effort.

Aid poured into Bam from more than 40 countries in the wake of the tremor and officials remained optimistic that the momentum would remain as the focus switches from emergency relief to longer term reconstruction.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies specified it needed a total of 51.9 million Swiss francs (42 million dollars, 33 million euros) to help an estimated 210,000 people over eight months and ward off the threat of disease.

"The scale of the disaster is so great that emergency relief will be required for several months to come," the federation's president, Juan Manuel Suarez del Toro, said in a statement released in Geneva.

The quake virtually flattened Bam, injuring about 22,000 people and leaving an estimated 75,000 homeless.

"The people of Bam need adequate shelter, food, health services and sanitation for the foreseeable future. If they don't get this, we risk seeing epidemics developing and more suffering and heartache," said Suarez del Toro.

With thousands sleeping in the open in freezing temperatures in southeastern Iran and few sanitation facilities, the risk of respiratory infections has increased sharply, the federation pointed out.

Malaria has traditionally been endemic in the area, which has also seen recent outbreaks of typhoid and cholera, it said.

About 1,850 unaccompanied children who survived the quake in Bam are also being helped by the Iranian Red Crescent, which needs to provide them with psychological care, housing and schooling.

The new appeal includes the 15.4 million Swiss franc emergency fund launched by the Red Cross in the initial stages of the rescue effort after the earthquake struck last month.

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