From Fuel & Medicine Shortage To People Juggling Multiple Jobs, Sri Lanka's Crisis Worsens
Amidst fuel shortages, medicines' scarcity, power cuts and soaring food prices, many Sri Lankans have to take on additional jobs to survive.
Amid fuel shortages, power cuts and soaring food prices, many Sri Lankans are facing never-ending nightmares. For survival, many have taken up additional jobs to put food on their plate.
But even donning multiple hats is not working for them in this economic crisis. What worse could it get?
The Unending Struggle For Survival
As per a report in Al Jazeera, a Sri Lankan waiter Abdul Razzak hoped to supplement his wages by moonlighting as an Uber Eats food courier using his friend¡¯s motorcycle. But it didn¡¯t work out, because instead of doing deliveries, he ended up stuck in queues to buy fuel.
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He said ¡°Sometimes my wife and I go hungry so that we can feed our children two meals. It used to be three (meals).¡±
On the other hand, Colombo based 43-year-old security guard Indika Perera reportedly said ¡°We can¡¯t survive here anymore.¡± Of the 42,000 rupees ($155) a month that he earns, groceries now cost half his salary. Whereas earlier, it used to cost 10,000 rupees in Sri Lanka.
He said he struggled to feed his three children anything more than plain rice once a day, as told to Thomson Reuters Foundation at his one-room home.
¡°I only sleep one hour on weekdays,¡± said a 52-year-old retired government official named J M F Ahamed, who works at a private firm during the day and by night ferries people around in his tuk-tuk because his 23,000 rupee pension barely sustains his family. But his earnings are still barely enough to buy food, he said.
Medicines Disappearing
Vani Susai, a 31-year-old school teacher in Srilanka says that her usual expense on essentials for a family of three, her mother, daughter and her, was around 30,000 rupees a month. ¡°But this month, I have already spent 83,000 rupees. There is a shortage of milk powder. One has to struggle for rice and daal. There is seven hours of load shedding but there are no candles. A strip of 12 paracetamol tablets costs 420 rupees and many medicines have disappeared. My salary is 55,000 rupees and we can manage with cash sent by my husband. But can we eat money?¡± This is as per a report in TheIndianExpress.
The Long Queues At Fuel Pumps
"I've been standing here for the past five hours," Sagayarani, a housewife, told AFP in Colombo while waiting for her share of kerosene, used to fire the cooking stoves of the capital's poorer households.
Some people have even lost their lives amidst this crisis. As per AlJazeera, police said a man was stabbed to death last week on March 21st in an argument with the driver of a three-wheeled vehicle, whereas four elderly men also died while queuing to buy fuel in the scorching heat.
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