Hundreds injured by meteor shower in the Ural

[Irbis]

Some may have been blinded by flying glass as well, since so many rushed to windows to see what caused the flash. Some of the pictures of wounded do show people with facial and eye injuries.

I kind of doubt that seeing shockwave followed 3.5 minutes after flash. I'd expect most people by then to lose interest or walk outside to ask what happened. In fact, most videos from the blast show people back to normal activities and injures being largely accidental. Think about it, people standing next to windows wouldn't be lightly injured, they would in best case be blinded, the worst dead.

And yes, local media say a yew people has suspected retina burns. Though, they say vision problems developed next day - is it possible? I'd expect the damage to be immediate?

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Due to adrenaline and excitement, and especially adrenaline because of the frantic rush to cover window frames with wood and tarpulins to avoid freezing in the -6 weather, I suspect a large number of people would not have initially noticed things like black spots burned into their retina if they could otherwise see, so a delay in recognising the damage seems plausible.

[Simon_Jester]

Yes. Localized retinal damage is one of those things that often doesn't get reported until later; I've heard of cases of people walking around with as much as 60% of their retina out of commission without even realizing it.

[Irbis]

Due to adrenaline and excitement, and especially adrenaline because of the frantic rush to cover window frames with wood and tarpulins to avoid freezing in the -6 weather, I suspect a large number of people would not have initially noticed things like black spots burned into their retina if they could otherwise see, so a delay in recognising the damage seems plausible.

It's actually worse than that, -15 to -20 degrees, which means the extent of damage might be visible only in spring/summer, when all pipes and interiors damaged by cold will become apparent. Worst case, affected buildings will have to be demolished.

Also, thanks you both for reply on eyes, I guess it makes sense.

As of now, final tally is about ~1500 wounded at all, including about ~120 heavy cases. Russian scientists proposed to name the meteorite 'Chebarkul' (from the lake with iconic hole) and from found fragments, it's apparently ordinary chondrite type. From what I heard today, the explosion (estimated at 550 kt) might have thrown some pieces into neighbouring Kazachstan.

[Beowulf]

Whoever said it is wrong, the satellite was a Russian weather bird called Meteosat-9.

Data from early warning satellites, which Russia does have, is highly classified material.

Yeah, I'm late... Meteosat-9 is European, not Russian.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

I don't see why -15 to -20 F, let alone merely -15 to -20 C, would result in buildings having to be demolished. The heating was active all of the time unless someone was dumb enough to shut it down, after all, so even all the windows being open, the building would retain heat at a greater level. Frozen pipes aren't usually a big deal, either, they occurred at the house where I grew up and were repaired within about two weeks despite some shattering. Anyway, the fact that most people quickly covered holes with tarps and wood means it isn't that grave of a matter. We shouldn't follow the temptation to make this into a bigger deal than it is, either.

[Irbis]

By saying that, you're aware to what standard Soviet building blocks were built, right? My parents happen to live in one, and it needed thorough renovation to be brought to modern standards. First and biggest item to be changed were Soviet era wooden windows for modern multiple layer plastic ones - we did that 15 years ago, and yet, I saw a lot of Soviet vintage windows in Chelabinsk pictures. That's why there were so many broken ones, they were nowhere near as durable and very brittle. If even windows weren't changed, nothing was renovated. Just look at comparison what happened to these two side by side.

Oh, and Soviet prefabricated multiple story buildings aren't exactly easy to repair at best times, shatter pipes and bringing stuff including having running water again might be very expensive. These aren't your modern western buildings, cool them too much and concrete walls might start to "rot" from dew condensing in the walls.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

The building I'm referring to was half-round built up logs with no metal on a simple poured square of concrete, with a dirt floor to the crawlspace, the concrete only being under the outer walls. This was certainly even more primitive than Soviet construction, though it had the advantage that water leakage was absorbed into the Earth rather than contained within the building, I admit.

[Broomstick]

And yes, local media say a yew people has suspected retina burns. Though, they say vision problems developed next day - is it possible? I'd expect the damage to be immediate?

It is possible for damage to be delayed/increase over a short period of time. The retina is basically a type of skin, and just as a second degree burn may have blistering that increases over a few hours a retinal burn can likewise result in increasing inflammation and dysfunction.

More typically, though, the visual defect simply isn't noticed at first.

[FSTargetDrone]

Views from the ground as the shockwave hits:

[PeZook]

God, I love how news stations are showing the Door To Hell in freakin' Turkmenistan as the meteor impact site

[EdgarjPublius]

God, I love how news stations are showing the Door To Hell in freakin' Turkmenistan as the meteor impact site

That happens basically anytime something falls out of the sky anywhere in the world.