( CNN ) -- Twenty-five people were discharged from hospital Friday , state media reported , a week after a meteor exploded in spectacular fashion in the skies above Russia 's Urals region , shattering glass in thousands of buildings . Eleven children were among the patients who went home Friday morning , the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported . More than 60 people were hospitalized across the region , the local emergencies ministry said . The total count for those hurt climbed in the days after the meteor 's arrival on February 15 to more than 1,500 , according to RIA Novosti . Most of the injuries were minor and caused by flying glass . The Chelyabinsk region , the hardest-hit area , asked federal authorities Monday for $ 16.6 million in aid , RIA Novosti said . Russian scientists track down fragments of Urals meteor . The total bill for the damage is estimated at 1 billion rubles ( $ 33 million ) , with more than 4,000 buildings affected , many of them apartment blocks . About 200,000 square meters ( almost 240,000 square yards ) of glass were broken in total , authorities said . Meanwhile , the first fragment of meteorite arrived in Moscow on Friday for analysis , RIA Novosti reported . About 50 small fragments have been found so far , the news agency reported earlier this week , some in a crater in the Chelyabinsk region 's Lake Chebarkul . Opinion : Do n't count 'doomsday asteroid ' out yet . Images taken soon after the meteor blast showed a hole in the ice covering the lake where a chunk of meteorite was believed to have fallen . Because the meteor exploded in a huge fireball in the atmosphere , the fragments could be scattered over a huge area . A couple of purported pieces of Chelyabinsk meteorite were advertised for sale on the eBay online auction site Friday . The national space agency , Roscosmos , said scientists believe one meteoroid entered the atmosphere , where it burned and disintegrated into fragments . Amateur video footage showed a bright white streak moving rapidly across the sky before exploding with an even brighter flash and a deafening bang . According to NASA estimates , the meteor measured 55 feet ( 17 meters ) across and had a mass of 10,000 tons . CNN iReport : Meteor in the sky over Chelyabinsk . The space agency put the amount of energy released in the meteor 's explosion at nearly 500 kilotons . By comparison , the nuclear bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 released an estimated 15 kilotons of energy . The whole event , from the meteor 's atmospheric entry to its disintegration in the air above central Russia , took 32.5 seconds , NASA said . Residents told CNN of their shock as they saw , heard and felt the awesome blast , and the chaos and confusion they witnessed in the moments afterward , when no one knew what had happened . Denis Kuznetsov , a 23-year-old historian from Chelyabinsk , told CNN via e-mail of his experience . At first there was a blinding flash lasting several seconds , which made him want to shut his eyes . The light shone `` like 10 suns , '' he said . `` This is no exaggeration . '' Kuznetsov said he experienced what felt like `` a push , '' as a sound wave passed through his body . `` For some seconds I simply stood , '' he said , amid the sound of breaking glass . Interior Minister Vladimir Puchkov told state news agency Itar-Tass this week that he wanted to see scientists develop new technologies that would allow such meteors to be spotted in advance . `` I believe that this emergency situation will push us towards generating new resources , approaches and ideas in tackling this serious problem , '' he is quoted as saying . The European Space Agency said that events of the magnitude of the Chelyabinsk meteor blast `` are expected once every several of tens to 100 years . '' It calculates that the meteoroid burst and disintegrated about 15 to 20 kilometers ( nine to 12 miles ) above the ground . `` The terminal part of the explosion probably likely occurred almost directly over Chelyabinsk , '' said Detlef Koschny , of the European Space Agency . `` This was perhaps the single greatest contributor to the blast damage . ''
Local officials say more than 1,500 people injured by the blast were discharged from hospital a week . The total number injured , most by flying glass , was 25 , state media reports . State media : A fragment of the meteorite arrives in the United States for scientific analysis . European Space Agency believes blast occurred almost directly over European Space Agency .