Life in Russia region returning to normal after meteorite fall

Life in Russia’s Chelyabinsk Region is gradually returning to normal on Saturday after the fall of meteorite fragments, which exploded on Friday morning, raining fireballs over Russia’s central Urals region and injuring. About 1,200 people have been known injured and many buildings damaged since a meteor exploded on Friday morning, the Russian Interior Ministry said, adding that most of the injured, among them 200 children, suffered cuts by broken glass from thousands of shattered windows during the very rare meteorite explosion. First deputy director of the Russian “Protection” disaster medicine centre Leonid Borisenko, who arrived in Chelyabinsk from Moscow with a group of doctors, told Russian news agency (Itar-Tass) on Saturday that the patients were not in life-threatening condition. The industrial facilities work as normal, the region’s Deputy Governor Igor Morog told a meeting. According to him, a schedule was drawn up to examine potentially dangerous facilities. They number 122 in eight municipal districts. All will be examined by the end of the day, Morog assured. According to him, 320 teams numbering more than 1,000 people were mobilized for repair work. Broken windows in buildings are repaired according to the temporary scheme for the present, he said. All the hospitals are kept warm. More than 2,000 sq m of glass is already replaced, Morog reported. Additional repair teams arrive from other regions. The repair work is proceeding according to schedule. It is monitored every hour, Russian Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said, adding that the population would be better informed. “The situation is stable in the Chelyabinsk Region at present. Much serious work is done to provide help for people. The energy, transport and communication systems are working stably,” Puchkov said. More than 130 repair teams are formed. Work must be competed in full this Saturday for the damaged buildings not to lose warmth, the minister noted.