One-third of the study zone in and around Dhaka showed that the area was "most vulnerable" to tremors as these were recently filled with clay and silt.

Buildings between nine and 14 stories high are specially at risk, the study, which used techniques of soil-mapping, remote-sensing and borehole data gathering says, adding the high-risk zone is about 100 square kilometers out of the 305 sq km of study area.

"Considering the huge damage patterns of Mexico City, which was 350 kilometres away from the epicenter of the Michoacan earthquake in 1985, it can be apprehended that Dhaka might also experience a huge amount of damage from distant earthquakes," Bangladeshi researcher Maksud Kamal says.

Kamal, a geology teacher, teamed up with Saburoh Midorikawa of Tokyo Institute of Technology (TIT) to finish the three-year study.

A number of tremors have hit Bangladesh, including Dhaka, southeastern Chittagong and northeastern Sylhet region over the past decades. Experts say the frequency is increasing.

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