Bam, Iran ? For nearly nine days after an earthquake demolished her city, 97-year-old Sharbanou Mazandarani lay trapped under furniture and crumbled masonry, passing fear-filled days and cold nights with death all around.

But with nearly a century of life behind her, Mazandarani was not ready to give up. And on Saturday, amazed rescuers pulled her out of the rubble alive — and, amazingly, unhurt.

“God kept me alive,” the petite, wrinkled Mazandarani said as she lay on a bed in a makeshift hospital in Bam, covered to her chin with a blue blanket and a brown print scarf tied around her head.

Rescuers said she asked for a cup of tea soon after her rescue — and then complained it was too hot to drink.

Normally people can survive up to three days in the rubble of an earthquake. It was unclear whether Mazandarani had food or water while she lay trapped under the ruins.

Search dogs located Mazandarani under a collapsed building and it took three hours of digging to recover her.

“No one expected her to be alive. It’s a miracle,” provincial government spokesman Asadollah Iranmanesh said.

Her rescue wasn’t the only bright spot in the aftermath of the Dec. 26 quake: On Saturday U.S. doctors said they had delivered four babies at a makeshift hospital.

Meanwhile, the death toll rose to about 35,000, Brig. Gen. Hoseyn Fat’ahi of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps told Iran’s official news agency. He said the injured numbered 17,000.

Patrick Kadilak, left, a pediatric nurse practitioner from Boston, and two Iranian women look at baby girl Moalla Kurbani at the American field hospital in the earthquake-ravaged city of Bam, southern Iran. Moalla was born Friday night at the American hospital and her earthquake survivor mother, Maryam Kurbani, is being treated at the hospital's intensive care service.

A situation report by the U.N. Disaster Assessment Coordination Team warned that many survivors were suffering from psychological disorders after the deaths of their loved ones and the destruction of their homes.

French and German aid groups were flying in 130 psychologists and psychiatrists to counsel survivors, the U.N. report said. The Iranian Red Crescent Society has deployed 40 female counselors to Bam.

The 6.6-magnitude quake damaged beyond repair as much as 85 percent of Bam’s houses and buildings, the report said. Camps of tents with heating are being erected around the city, U.N. officials said.