GENEVA, Dec 27: US President George Bush, who once branded Iran part of an “axis of evil”, and other world leaders on Saturday stepped up aid for Iran’s earthquake victims.

Washington has no official ties with Tehran, but Mr Bush said in a statement: “We stand ready to help the people of Iran.”

A spokesman for Mr Bush said the United States would be offering humanitarian aid, and a US official said the State Department would be announcing an aid package soon.

Washington broke diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic after militant students stormed the US embassy in Tehran in 1979, and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

Bush has accused Iran of trying to secretly develop weapons of mass destruction.

The United Nations, European Union countries, Russia, China, Poland, Japan, Turkey and others also heeded Iran’s appeals for help from the international community.

They pledged doctors, medical supplies, financial aid and rescuers with sniffer dogs and special equipment to locate survivors.

Iranian officials said some 50,000 people were also injured when Friday’s quake struck the ancient Silk Road city of Bam in southeastern Iran, devastating 70 percent of its buildings.

ITALY OVERSEES EU AID: Italy, as current president of the European Union, will coordinate EU aid to avoid duplication.

U.N. officials said they were releasing an immediate emergency grant of 90,000 dollars to help Iran handle the aftermath of the quake and had sent experts to help assess the damage.

The world body’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the U.N. team would also work to mobilize and oversee international assistance.

The immediate need was for medicines, tents, mobile hospitals, electricity generators, water purification equipment and blankets, OCHA official Madeleine Moulin-Azevedo said.

The U.N. children’s fund UNICEF said it was sending first aid kits and medical supplies. It called for 350,000 dollars in donations.

Russia’s emergencies ministry, highly skilled in reacting to frequent natural and man-made disasters, offered rapid-response units of doctors, paramedics and sniffer dog handlers to help find people buried under rubble.

“In accordance with an order from the head of state Emergencies Ministry specialists are preparing to fly to Iran to give help to the injured,” said a statement from President Vladimir Putin’s press service after a meeting with Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Itar-Tass news agency quoted the emergencies ministry as saying planes would leave for Iran on Saturday with 100 experts for searching collapsed buildings, 10 doctors and search dogs.

Russia has close ties with Iran, and is building a nuclear power station near the southern city of Bushehr, on the Gulf.

Italy was sending a C-130 military transport plane with a sniffer dog unit, fire brigade and search teams, the civil protection department said.

Agostino Miozzo, the official coordinating EU aid, said France was sending a field hospital and the Czech Republic, one of the 10 countries entering the bloc next year, had also offered help.

“This is the first time EU coordination is taking place for a disaster,” Mr Miozzo said. “It’s important not to duplicate efforts, for example, to make sure that several countries don’t send field hospitals to the exact same place.”

In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer offered Tehran help in rescuing earthquake survivors who may be trapped in collapsed buildings and to repair damage.

Turkey, which has plenty of experience in earthquake relief work, sent a plane carrying search and rescue teams and humanitarian aid to Iran. The aid included tents, blankets and medicines.

Japan, another country with quake expertise, said it was dispatching a medical team specializing in disasters.—AFP