People have to spend an additional amount of approximately Tk five lakh for constructing a Tk one crore building, experts said.

"If people spend roughly three to five per cent more in design and construction materials, it is possible to improve the resistance of a building significantly," said Dr Jamilur Reza Choudhury, vice chancellor of the BRAC University.

If this code is followed, the building may be damaged in a moderate or severe earthquake but it will not collapse, he observed.

Among the most vulnerable structures are four to five storey buildings supported on unreinforced brick masonry walls (unusually with 250 mm thickness), he said mentioning these are gradually replacing the traditional low-rise structures that have a much better performance in surviving earthquakes.

The Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC93) includes recommendations for providing horizontal and vertical reinforcement in brick masonry buildings,. "Incorporation of these details in the brick masonry buildings require a very small increase in cost and would improve the performance significantly in case of earthquakes."

In most cases people spend more on the finishing and decoration but they do not consider the safety aspect seriously, said S M Kamaluddin, chairman of Concord Group of Companies. "I think it is not a financial problem. Rather, most people are not aware of the seismic risk in the country."

Citing an example, he said if the structural cost of a building is Tk 350 per square feet, a person will have to spend an additional amount of Tk 25 per square feet to make the building more earthquake resistant. "If the increase is compared with the total budget for a building including finishing and decoration, I think the cost is negligible."

A composite index Earthquake Disaster Risk Index (EDRI) developed at Stanford University under the guidance of Professor Haresh Shah was used to compare the relative seismic disaster risks in 20 cities from different parts of the world. Of these 20 cities, Dhaka appeared to have one of the highest values of EDRI due mainly to its vulnerability and poor emergency response and recovery capabilities.