According to Mr Craig, however, most of the damage was limited to one particular area. The outskirts of Vanuatu were largely unharmed, as were most people living outside the capital, he added.
"We are used to having hurricanes which cause issues like food scarcity, affect housing. This time there's none of that," he said.
"But we normally don't have this many fatalities as a result of natural disasters - so fatalities at this level, that's not normal for us."
Neighbouring Australia will send teams to assist in the search and rescue effort, while the US and France have also pledged aid.
The earthquake struck at 12:47 local time (01:47 GMT) on Tuesday and triggered a brief tsunami warning.
Vanuatu, a low-lying archipelago of some 80 islands in the South Pacific, is located west of Fiji and thousands of kilometres east of northern Australia.
Vanuatu sits in a seismically active area, and is susceptible to frequent large earthquakes and other natural disasters.
"We had Covid, then we had three cyclones last year. So this is really the last thing we needed," said Mr Craig. "But I think there will be some semblance of normality by Thursday.
"Tomorrow the banks will open, we need some apparatus from Australia for the internet to return which we will get soon, and the power will return in a few days. So we are suffering now, but we will get past it."