A meteor streaked through the skies above Russia 's Urals region Friday morning before exploding with a flash and boom that shattered glass in buildings and left about 1,000 people hurt , authorities said . Described by NASA as a `` tiny asteroid , '' the meteor 's explosion created a blast in central Russia equivalent to 300,000 tons of TNT , the space agency 's officials said Friday , adding that the incident was a once-in-100-years event . The injured included more than 200 children . Most of those hurt are in the Chelyabinsk region , though the vast majority of injuries are not thought to be serious . Opinion : Do n't count 'doomsday asteroid ' out yet . About 3,000 buildings were damaged -- mostly with broken glass -- as a result of the shock waves caused by the blast , the state-run RIA Novosti news agency said . Vladimir Stepanov , of the National Center for Emergency Situations at the Russian Interior Ministry , earlier told state media that hospitals , kindergartens and schools were among those affected . About 20,000 emergency response workers were mobilized , RIA Novosti reported . Read more : Saving Earth from asteroids . Amateur video footage showed a bright white streak moving rapidly across the sky , before exploding with an even brighter flash and a deafening bang . The explosion occurred about 9:20 a.m. local time , as many people were out and about . It was captured in vivid images by Russians , many of whom used dash cameras inside their vehicles . Dash cameras are popular in Russia for several reasons including possible disputes over traffic accidents and the corrupt reputations of police in many areas . Drivers install the cameras for their own protection and to document incidents they could be caught in ; on Friday , they were able to document a spectacular natural phenomenon . CNN iReporter and Instagram user Max Chuykov saw the meteor trail from the city of Yekaterinburg . He shared on Instagram that it was `` close to the ground . '' Witness Ekaterina Shlygina posted to CNN iReport and wrote on Instagram : `` Upon Chelyabinsk a huge fireball has exploded . It was n't an aircraft . '' The national space agency , Roscosmos , said scientists believed one meteoroid had entered the atmosphere , where it burned and disintegrated into fragments . Read more : When the Quadrantid meteor shower hit its peak . The resulting meteorites are believed to be scattered across three regions of Russia , one of them Chelyabinsk , as well as neighboring Kazakhstan , the news agency said . One large chunk was discovered in a lake in the Chelyabinsk region , RIA Novosti cited the Chelyabinsk governor as saying . A spokesman for the Emergency Ministry for the Chelyabinsk region told CNN earlier Friday that 524 people there were injured and 34 hospitalized . NASA estimates 4,700 'potentially hazardous ' asteroids . For sky watchers , the reports bring to mind the famous Tunguska event of 1908 in remote Siberia , in which an asteroid entered the atmosphere and exploded , leveling trees over an area of 820 square miles -- about two-thirds the size of Rhode Island . About 80 million trees were felled , radiating out from the center of the blast , but no crater was left . Friday 's Chelyabinsk meteor came on the same day that a hefty asteroid charged past Earth . An asteroid makes a close call . Fear not , scientists say . Known as 2012 DA14 , the asteroid is thought to be 45 meters long , about half the length of a football field . But scientists say it came not much closer than 17,100 miles from our planet 's surface . Officials from around the world were quick to call for greater vigilance in monitoring meteors . `` Today 's event is a strong reminder of why we need continuous efforts to survey and identify near-Earth objects , '' said Thomas Reiter , European Space Agency 's Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations . Deep Space Industries , a recently created space exploration company , said countries should be proactive in establishing `` a sentry line of spacecraft circling the Earth to intercept and evaluate incoming threats . '' `` The hundreds of people injured in northern Russia show it 's time to take action and no longer be passive about these threats , '' said Rick Tumlinson , chairman of Deep Space Industries . Your photos : Orionid meteor shower . NASA spokesman Steve Cole told CNN that scientists had determined that the Russian meteor was on a very different trajectory from the larger asteroid . `` They are completely unrelated objects -- it 's a strange coincidence they are happening at the same time , '' said Don Yeomans , manager of the Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Asteroid and meteor : Connected ? `` This kind of object does fall fairly frequently , but when they fall into the ocean or desert , there is no impact on people -- so this one is unusual in the sense that it 's come over a populated area , '' Yeomans said . Cole said he was n't aware whether scientists had foreseen the meteor 's entry into the atmosphere . Because meteoroids are small , they are hard to spot and there is often little warning that they are heading toward Earth , he said . Opinion : Meteor shows why it is crucial to keep an eye on the sky .
Described as once-in-100-years event , the meteor released a 300-kiloton blast . lt had been moving faster than normal because of its close proximity to the Earth . Deep Space Industries said countries should be proactive in establishing `` a sentry line '' around their territory and that they would not tolerate any attempt by other nations to interfere with this process or threaten our security.