The Office of Disaster Preparedness & Emergency Management [ODPEM] has accepted that it could have moved more swiftly on Saturday to provide the country with information about a likely tsunami.
Concerns were raised by the Parliamentary Opposition about what it said was a lack of urgent warning from the government about the tsunami alert on Saturday evening following the 7.6-magnitude earthquake which struck in the Caribbean Sea.
A potential tsunami threat was initially forecast for 20 countries, including Jamaica. It was later revised to 13 countries, still including Jamaica.
Acting Director General of ODPEM Richard Thompson said on Monday that Jamaica's tsunami response protocol was triggered.
But he said the country was not at the level of a tsunami warning, which would require residents to move to higher ground.
Mr Thompson, speaking on Beyond the Headlines, explained that there are four levels of tsunami alerts and Jamaica was at level two.
He said the agency was careful not to cause unnecessary panic.
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