RUSSIA: Russian officials in meteorite-hit region say happy to survive space attack

Record ID: 217215

  • Title: RUSSIA: Russian officials in meteorite-hit region say happy to survive space attack
  • Date: 18th February 2013
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FEBRUARY 18, 2013) (REUTERS) MEDIA CENTRE LOBBY OFFICIALS ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE CAMERAMEN NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN SENATOR FROM CHELYABINSK REGION, KONSTANTIN TSYBKO, SAYING: "Chelyabinsk is now the safest place on Earth because meteorites never strike twice in the same place. Therefore, I think we have a positive ef
  • Embargoed: 5th March 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Disasters,Science,Space
  • Reuters ID: LVAE4FOPYC53DVR0HMWCHQ9IDIKH
  • Story Text: The governor of Russia's meteorite-hit Chelyabinsk region invites the world leaders to his city to discuss ways to save mankind while the senator says Chelyabinsk is the first town in the history of civilization to survive a space attack.


    The central Russian city where fireballs rained down after a 10-tonne meteor exploded as it entered the atmosphere can "thank God" it survived an attack from outer space, leaders from the region of Chelyabinsk said on Monday (February 18).
    "Chelyabinsk is now the safest place on Earth because meteorites never strike twice in the same place. Therefore, I think we have a positive effect in the fact that Chelyabinsk residents may feel safe because nothing like this will happen in the next few hundred years," said Chelyabinsk legislator Konstantin Tsybko.
    "This is the first town in the history of our civilization that came under a space attack, survived this attack, and survived it successfully. Nobody was killed. I think a miracle happened and God saved the Chelyabinsk region," he added.
    People heading to work on Friday (February 15) morning heard what sounded like an explosion, saw a bright light and then a shockwave in the city some 1,500 km (950 miles)
    The falling asteroid sent fireballs blazing to earth over the sparsely populated Urals region, causing a cosmic boom that injured almost 1,200 people and caused about $33 million worth of damage, said local authorities.
    But Chelyabinsk Governor Mikhail Yurevich was positive about how his city handled the meteorite attack and said it was just matter of time until broken windows will be repaired.
    "Measurements have been made, orders have been placed - now everybody is just waiting for a service man to come and repair a window. The whole city lives in a normal way," he said.
    He also shared his own Friday's experience, giggling at his own comments.
    "In the administration of Chelyabinsk region only several windows were smashed, a glass door was smashed on the ground floor and a glass thing above cracked. But in some municipalities - in the office of Kopeisk mayor and in the office of the Korkino municipality mayor windows were smashed right in their offices. The Kopeisk mayor had his windows smashed right during a meeting (LAUGHING). They all fell under the desk. This all happened," Yurevich said.
    Chelyabinsk governor also enticed world leaders to come visit the city and to hold meteorites-related conferences, adding that this would be good for businesses.
    "Naturally, we would be very happy if the leaders of all countries came to our town to hold a conference about meteorites. It would be good for business, we would recoup a billion dollars (of damage)," he said.
    However, he complained that this accident won't force development of space defence that could help prevent such events in the future.
    "No budget of any single country would afford this kind of space defence. In order for people to take notice, they should have an impact 20 times stronger than it was in Chelyabinsk. They should have some serious city to be destroyed. But that won't be Chelyabinsk now. So far Chelyabinsk just survived a light scare and we should develop our civil defence for the future," he said.
    NASA estimated the Cheliabinsk meteorite was 55 feet (17 metres) across before entering Earth's atmosphere and weighed about 10,000 tons. It exploded miles above Earth, releasing nearly 500 kilotons of energy - about 30 times the size of the nuclear bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in World War Two, NASA said.
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