Peru will send 54 tons of food and medicine to Haiti following Tuesday's major earthquake in the island state, Prime Minister Javier Velasquez announced Wednesday.

Velasquez said two planes with 50 tons of humanitarian aid will be sent in the next few hours. The president's plane will take another four tons of medicine.

The Peruvian government was also considering sending a navy ship carrying rescue teams and more aid supplies.

Velasquez said an emergency decree will soon be issued to enable the acquisition of more aid for Haiti, and that Peruvian members of the UN mission in Haiti will stay there to help survivors from the quake.

The Peruvian government has declared Thursday a day of mourning for Haitian quake victims.

Peru needs to give back what it received from other nations when a strong earthquake hit the country in 2007, said Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Belaunde. An 8.0-magnitude earthquake devastated three cities in southwestern Peru on August 15, 2007, killing hundreds of people.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2010)