8 ms·

With no fuel and no cash, Sri Lanka grinds to a halt

69 points by triyambakam 4y ago

totetsu 4y ago
how long do you have to que for fuel before you use more fuel queuing than you actually get..
- smabie 4y ago
  Would be a function of how long the line is not how long you have to wait since presumably the people in line aren't needlessly wasting gas while not moving.
- asciiresort 4y ago
  That’s a developed country view to assume people are queueing up in their vehicles. People in developing countries just hand carry a tank.
  - evanb 4y ago
    The headline photo is a huge queue of tuktuks waiting for gas, so maybe it's not as naive a question as you suggest.
  - ls15 4y ago
    > People in developing countries just hand carry a tank. Plastic bottles...
- Johnythree 4y ago
  Mostly it's TukTuk drivers who simply switch off their engine, and simply push their vehicle when it's time to move up.
- 2143 4y ago
  They probably turn off their engines when queued. So, infinite.
- mr_gibbins 4y ago
  A quick scour of Google seems to come up with about 0.2 gallons per hour (about 900ml) for an idling engine, so assuming you keep your engine running (and discounting extra fuel used moving forward in the line), let's say you have a 16 gallon tank, you'll be able to run the engine for about 80 hours before stalling. Plus or minus 20% bearing in mind size of engine, tank size, ratio of time spent idle vs. moving, how much fuel you start with (you wouldn't be at a fuel station with a full tank, I'd imagine?) 80 hours is a lot less than I thought it would be.
antiquark 4y ago
This is the result of the govts incompetent attempt to "Go Green."
- unmole 4y ago
  I guess you're referring to the hare-brained organic farming push and ban on importing fertilizer and pesticides? Sure, that made a bad situation worse but that isn't the root cause. The ban itself was motivated by dwindling forex reserves. High foreign debt, gross mismanagement and corruption, precipitous drop in tourism all contributed to the crisis.
- rabeener 4y ago
  Your statement is not accurate and also misleading. There’s a number of factors that landed Sri Lanka where it is today for example over investing in domestic production for internal consumption vs. investing in a healthy export economy, deep tax cuts beginning in 2019 to gain support for the ruling party, and taking on massive amounts of debt to China to fund infrastructure projects. The country is 13 years removed from a civil war (which is not a long time) and has been mostly led by a dynastic family that implemented damaging policies to maintain popular support. All of this was exacerbated by the pandemic, accelerating the downfall of the country’s economy because of these disastrous policies. And to address your “go green” comment directly, Sri Lanka banned the import of foreign fertilizers not because they were committed to being organic but because they had dire foreign exchange shortages beginning last year. This has commonly been misconstrued as the country trying to be organic because that’s how it was sold to the people of the country by that dynastic leadership to hide the failure of leadership’s economic policies. I’m disappointed that you posted this comment to HN. We are a community that’s better than this historically but I see the same uniformed voices popping up here now that ruined Reddit years ago. Sri Lanka is a country of 22 million people who are currently in a crisis and actually starving. They deserved better than what you wrote.
  - pddpro 4y ago
    Last paragraph unneeded.
xiphias2 4y ago
‘’The minister said the main problem is the lack of dollars and appealed to some two million Sri Lankans working abroad to send their foreign exchange earnings home through banks instead of informal channels’’ This sentence demonstrates the huge disrespect for private property by the Sri Lankan government: those remitted dollars belong to the people, I hope they use the ,,informal channels’’, like cryptocurrencies (BTC or Monero), that’s the least violent way to get rid of the corrupt government.
- ls15 4y ago
  We burned through all the money that you gave us before, so please send more. Sincerely, Gov
- bshipp 4y ago
  I assumed it refers to the need for recipients to convert the foreign currency into local currency, thereby providing the national bank with that currency to use in international transactions. So it's not theft, it's supply and demand. If they receive $600million USD from foreign remittances but have a fuel bill thats a billion USD, where are they going to get that extra currency from?
  - daniel-cussen 4y ago
    "It's supply and demand" is frequently code for "I'm coercing you, what are you going to do about it?" Classic example, when you ask why rent in town is so high, "it just supply and demand." Then one day you start seeing the same NIMBYs in the same objections to constructions, like "they tried building a cheaper home for me, and these NIMBYs objected, why" and it's shills for landlords, so not really that in love with "supply and demand" when it's not to their benefit.
    - bshipp 4y ago
      I'm only discussing the macroeconomic operation if foreign account balances and why the inflow of international currency is vital for most countries that have their own domestic currency. If we want to discuss the role of speculators in a real estate bubble I'm happy to switch topics!
labrador 4y ago
For some perspective, Sri Lanka is about the same size and population as the greater Los Angeles area. I can't begin to imagine Los Angeles grinding to a halt with no fuel, intermittent electricity and many essentials in a precarious state. It would be chaos.
- oceanplexian 4y ago
  > I can't begin to imagine Los Angeles grinding to a halt with no fuel, intermittent electricity and many essentials in a precarious state. I don’t know about LA but in the Bay Area we call this “fire season” and it happens every year towards the end of summer.
  - reducesuffering 4y ago
    I really don't understand all the hyperbole about California "fire season." Is it like other places where people develop their opinion about it through social media rather than actually being there outside? I've lived in the Bay forever and was affected by being without electricity once. There have been maybe 10 actually smoky days in the past few years. People only seem to talk about it online. Definitely not much fretting over it or "grinding to a halt."
    - murderfs 4y ago
      It varies by area: in the hills, there have been several power shutoffs in the last few years. The big wildfires that PG&E got assigned liability for made them greatly widen the criteria they use to shut off power to prevent wildfires: Los Altos Hills claims it happens once or twice a year: https://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/469/Public-Safety-Power-Shutoff https://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/469/Public-Safety-Power-Shu...
    - RandomUser4567 4y ago
      I also live in the Bay Area (but in a rural area) and have experienced dozens of power outages over the past few years (some fire and some not). Plenty is smoky days. I agree on the hyperbole on the internet, but your experience seems to be on the opposite end of the spectrum.
blackoil 4y ago
Sri Lanka had the worst government possible. They are corrupt to the core who won elections because they capitalised on minority-majority conflicts first against Tamils and now against Muslims. Rajapaksas had a complete capture on the government which allowed them to both loot it and make stupid decisions.
- sieabahlpark 4y ago
mrtri 4y ago
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
ivanb 4y ago
I tried to get a permission to work from Sri Lanka. I would have brought them taxes and currency. The officials could not understand what I was talking about. Some hanged up on me and some told that straight to my face.
an9n 4y ago
The only possible upside to this is that the poor Sri Lankans will breathe a little more easily for a while - I remember that the pollution in Colombo was pretty appalling (not that that's their fault). I really feel for them, as in my experience SL had some pretty drastic poverty in parts to begin with.
- adeeshaek 4y ago
  I'm aware of one more upside - ordinary poor Sri Lankans are starting to realize how disastrous racism and nationalism have been, and are starting to reject these ideas. I recently saw a video where an agitator came up to a mob of mostly Sinhalese people (Sinhalese being the majority ethnic group) and said "The Muslims are coming after me with swords!" only to be told by the mob to take his racism and nationalism elsewhere. The current administration came to power on a racist and nationalistic platform, and it seems that racist and nationalist thinking is falling from grace right along with the ruling clan. I couldn't find the video I mentioned above, so I am not able to cite it, but I can cite the following examples of more un-racist and un-nationalist behavior in Sri Lankans at present: 1. In the following article, you can see posters of murdered Tamil journalists (Tamil being the second biggest ethnic group in Sri Lanka, which historically had a great deal of ethnic conflict with the Sinhalese) being displayed right alongside pictures of murdered Sinhalese journalists - https://groundviews.org/2022/05/13/challenging-impunity-for-crimes-against-journalists-2/ https://groundviews.org/2022/05/13/challenging-impunity-for-... . To me, this is groundbreaking - for a very long time, Sinhalese Sri Lankans would dismiss any atrocities against the Tamils out of hand. As part of the current protests against the president of Sri Lanka, I've heard more and more stories of atrocities performed against Tamils being discussed and elevated by Sinhalese people, and that is a powerful sign of positive change. 2. Sri Lankans are also becoming more open to LGBTQ people - in the past, Sri Lanka has been incredibly conservative, and profoundly dismissive and marginalizing of everyone who is not straight and cis. However, there was more openness and acceptance of LGBTQ folks during the protests against the president, and Sri Lankans even celebrated pride: https://www.themorning.lk/pride-in-colombo-past-present-and-future/ https://www.themorning.lk/pride-in-colombo-past-present-and-... Having said this, Sri Lanka is in a very tough spot indeed - being more open-minded and progressive is cold comfort when you are eating just one meal a day, or sleeping in your car while in line for fuel.

69 points by triyambakam 4y ago

totetsu 4y ago

how long do you have to que for fuel before you use more fuel queuing than you actually get..

smabie 4y ago
Would be a function of how long the line is not how long you have to wait since presumably the people in line aren't needlessly wasting gas while not moving.
asciiresort 4y ago
That’s a developed country view to assume people are queueing up in their vehicles. People in developing countries just hand carry a tank.
- evanb 4y ago
  The headline photo is a huge queue of tuktuks waiting for gas, so maybe it's not as naive a question as you suggest.
- ls15 4y ago
  > People in developing countries just hand carry a tank. Plastic bottles...
Johnythree 4y ago
Mostly it's TukTuk drivers who simply switch off their engine, and simply push their vehicle when it's time to move up.
2143 4y ago
They probably turn off their engines when queued. So, infinite.
mr_gibbins 4y ago
A quick scour of Google seems to come up with about 0.2 gallons per hour (about 900ml) for an idling engine, so assuming you keep your engine running (and discounting extra fuel used moving forward in the line), let's say you have a 16 gallon tank, you'll be able to run the engine for about 80 hours before stalling. Plus or minus 20% bearing in mind size of engine, tank size, ratio of time spent idle vs. moving, how much fuel you start with (you wouldn't be at a fuel station with a full tank, I'd imagine?) 80 hours is a lot less than I thought it would be.

antiquark 4y ago

This is the result of the govts incompetent attempt to "Go Green."

unmole 4y ago
I guess you're referring to the hare-brained organic farming push and ban on importing fertilizer and pesticides? Sure, that made a bad situation worse but that isn't the root cause. The ban itself was motivated by dwindling forex reserves. High foreign debt, gross mismanagement and corruption, precipitous drop in tourism all contributed to the crisis.
rabeener 4y ago
Your statement is not accurate and also misleading. There’s a number of factors that landed Sri Lanka where it is today for example over investing in domestic production for internal consumption vs. investing in a healthy export economy, deep tax cuts beginning in 2019 to gain support for the ruling party, and taking on massive amounts of debt to China to fund infrastructure projects. The country is 13 years removed from a civil war (which is not a long time) and has been mostly led by a dynastic family that implemented damaging policies to maintain popular support. All of this was exacerbated by the pandemic, accelerating the downfall of the country’s economy because of these disastrous policies. And to address your “go green” comment directly, Sri Lanka banned the import of foreign fertilizers not because they were committed to being organic but because they had dire foreign exchange shortages beginning last year. This has commonly been misconstrued as the country trying to be organic because that’s how it was sold to the people of the country by that dynastic leadership to hide the failure of leadership’s economic policies. I’m disappointed that you posted this comment to HN. We are a community that’s better than this historically but I see the same uniformed voices popping up here now that ruined Reddit years ago. Sri Lanka is a country of 22 million people who are currently in a crisis and actually starving. They deserved better than what you wrote.
- pddpro 4y ago
  Last paragraph unneeded.

xiphias2 4y ago

‘’The minister said the main problem is the lack of dollars and appealed to some two million Sri Lankans working abroad to send their foreign exchange earnings home through banks instead of informal channels’’ This sentence demonstrates the huge disrespect for private property by the Sri Lankan government: those remitted dollars belong to the people, I hope they use the ,,informal channels’’, like cryptocurrencies (BTC or Monero), that’s the least violent way to get rid of the corrupt government.

ls15 4y ago
We burned through all the money that you gave us before, so please send more. Sincerely, Gov
bshipp 4y ago
I assumed it refers to the need for recipients to convert the foreign currency into local currency, thereby providing the national bank with that currency to use in international transactions. So it's not theft, it's supply and demand. If they receive $600million USD from foreign remittances but have a fuel bill thats a billion USD, where are they going to get that extra currency from?
- daniel-cussen 4y ago
  "It's supply and demand" is frequently code for "I'm coercing you, what are you going to do about it?" Classic example, when you ask why rent in town is so high, "it just supply and demand." Then one day you start seeing the same NIMBYs in the same objections to constructions, like "they tried building a cheaper home for me, and these NIMBYs objected, why" and it's shills for landlords, so not really that in love with "supply and demand" when it's not to their benefit.
  - bshipp 4y ago
    I'm only discussing the macroeconomic operation if foreign account balances and why the inflow of international currency is vital for most countries that have their own domestic currency. If we want to discuss the role of speculators in a real estate bubble I'm happy to switch topics!

labrador 4y ago

For some perspective, Sri Lanka is about the same size and population as the greater Los Angeles area. I can't begin to imagine Los Angeles grinding to a halt with no fuel, intermittent electricity and many essentials in a precarious state. It would be chaos.

oceanplexian 4y ago
> I can't begin to imagine Los Angeles grinding to a halt with no fuel, intermittent electricity and many essentials in a precarious state. I don’t know about LA but in the Bay Area we call this “fire season” and it happens every year towards the end of summer.
- reducesuffering 4y ago
  I really don't understand all the hyperbole about California "fire season." Is it like other places where people develop their opinion about it through social media rather than actually being there outside? I've lived in the Bay forever and was affected by being without electricity once. There have been maybe 10 actually smoky days in the past few years. People only seem to talk about it online. Definitely not much fretting over it or "grinding to a halt."
  - murderfs 4y ago
    It varies by area: in the hills, there have been several power shutoffs in the last few years. The big wildfires that PG&E got assigned liability for made them greatly widen the criteria they use to shut off power to prevent wildfires: Los Altos Hills claims it happens once or twice a year: https://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/469/Public-Safety-Power-Shutoff https://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/469/Public-Safety-Power-Shu...
  - RandomUser4567 4y ago
    I also live in the Bay Area (but in a rural area) and have experienced dozens of power outages over the past few years (some fire and some not). Plenty is smoky days. I agree on the hyperbole on the internet, but your experience seems to be on the opposite end of the spectrum.

blackoil 4y ago

Sri Lanka had the worst government possible. They are corrupt to the core who won elections because they capitalised on minority-majority conflicts first against Tamils and now against Muslims. Rajapaksas had a complete capture on the government which allowed them to both loot it and make stupid decisions.

sieabahlpark 4y ago

mrtri 4y ago

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

ivanb 4y ago

I tried to get a permission to work from Sri Lanka. I would have brought them taxes and currency. The officials could not understand what I was talking about. Some hanged up on me and some told that straight to my face.

an9n 4y ago

The only possible upside to this is that the poor Sri Lankans will breathe a little more easily for a while - I remember that the pollution in Colombo was pretty appalling (not that that's their fault). I really feel for them, as in my experience SL had some pretty drastic poverty in parts to begin with.

adeeshaek 4y ago
I'm aware of one more upside - ordinary poor Sri Lankans are starting to realize how disastrous racism and nationalism have been, and are starting to reject these ideas. I recently saw a video where an agitator came up to a mob of mostly Sinhalese people (Sinhalese being the majority ethnic group) and said "The Muslims are coming after me with swords!" only to be told by the mob to take his racism and nationalism elsewhere. The current administration came to power on a racist and nationalistic platform, and it seems that racist and nationalist thinking is falling from grace right along with the ruling clan. I couldn't find the video I mentioned above, so I am not able to cite it, but I can cite the following examples of more un-racist and un-nationalist behavior in Sri Lankans at present: 1. In the following article, you can see posters of murdered Tamil journalists (Tamil being the second biggest ethnic group in Sri Lanka, which historically had a great deal of ethnic conflict with the Sinhalese) being displayed right alongside pictures of murdered Sinhalese journalists - https://groundviews.org/2022/05/13/challenging-impunity-for-crimes-against-journalists-2/ https://groundviews.org/2022/05/13/challenging-impunity-for-... . To me, this is groundbreaking - for a very long time, Sinhalese Sri Lankans would dismiss any atrocities against the Tamils out of hand. As part of the current protests against the president of Sri Lanka, I've heard more and more stories of atrocities performed against Tamils being discussed and elevated by Sinhalese people, and that is a powerful sign of positive change. 2. Sri Lankans are also becoming more open to LGBTQ people - in the past, Sri Lanka has been incredibly conservative, and profoundly dismissive and marginalizing of everyone who is not straight and cis. However, there was more openness and acceptance of LGBTQ folks during the protests against the president, and Sri Lankans even celebrated pride: https://www.themorning.lk/pride-in-colombo-past-present-and-future/ https://www.themorning.lk/pride-in-colombo-past-present-and-... Having said this, Sri Lanka is in a very tough spot indeed - being more open-minded and progressive is cold comfort when you are eating just one meal a day, or sleeping in your car while in line for fuel.