The biggest meteorite to hit the earth since 1908 struck Russia last Friday. The explosion, twenty times more powerful than the nuclear weapons used in World War II, was picked up by sensors halfway around the world, as far away as Greenland and Africa.

However the results of the blast were not what would usually be expected. In some urban communities, every window shattered on the top floor of a building and the rest of it was fine. Anna V Popova said the meteorite blew her balcony windows in but her next door neighbor, who has identical windows, has no house damage.

NASA scientists say that a space rock like the one that just burned up parts of Russia only enters Earth’s atmosphere once every century. Over 1,200 people were injured last Friday and there is a large amount of property damage.

Most of the meteorite’s targets were industrial cities with populations of about 1 million. Most of the injuries and damage was done by shattered glass ripped out of window frames and from shattered bottles and dishes from otherwise unharmed kitchens.

“The waves can bounce off buildings and be stronger in some places than others,” Andrew E Kramer of Chelyabinsk, Russia said. “They can also resonate with glass.” This would explain the the unnaturally shattering bottles.

Mikhail Yurevich, governor of Chelyabinsk, told reporters, “People can consider February 15 their second birthday. God directed danger away.” The explosion could have been much worse than it ended up being. People all over Russia are thankful they still have their lives.