Hong Kong  - A three-year study is to be conducted in Hong Kong into the effects of an earthquake on the high-rise city of 6.9 million, officials said Saturday.

Geologists will examine the effect of a magnitude seven earthquake on the steep, landslip-prone hillsides in the densely populated wealthy former British colony.

The study is to begin in 2009, a year after the devastating Sichuan earthquake in China. Hong Kong has donated millions of US dollars towards rebuilding in quake-affected areas.

The Hong Kong study is estimated to cost around 1 million US dollars and is to involve tests on natural slopes in Hong Kong's rural New Territories region, officials told government-run radio station RTHK.

Hong Kong is far less prone to earthquakes than neighbouring mainland China, but experts estimate the city is statistically liable to a magnitude seven quake around once every 400 years. (dpa)