A 75-year-old woman was killed and about 400 people received treatment in hospitals following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in the southwestern Kyushu island on Sunday, Kyodo News reported.

The woman died after being trapped underneath a collapsed wall, the report said.

The earthquake, which hit at around 10:53 AM (01:53 GMT), registered a maximum intensity of lower 6 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7 in Fukuoka City and southern Saga Prefecture.

The Japan Meteorological Agency lifted a tsunami warning at noon.

The focus of the earthquake was 9 kilometers below sea level in the Japan Sea, about 70 km off the Shimonoseki city in the Yamaguchi Prefecture.

An aftershock warning of a maximum magnitude of 6 has been issued.

Airports of the Fukuoka city and Nagasaki city have resumed operations after being closed shortly.

The local bullet train services also have almost fully resumed.

The quake was the strongest tremor to hit Kyushu since May 1997,the agency said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2005)