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Russia’s Chelyabinsk recovering after Friday meteorite shower

Russia’s city of Chelyabinsk in the south Urals region is recovering after the Friday meteorite shower

CHELYABINSK, February 17 (Itar-Tass) – Russia’s city of Chelyabinsk in the south Urals region is recovering after the Friday meteorite shower. Broken windows are being protected with films and plywood. Glass is set in many windows already.

The South Urals State University, one of the biggest ones in the region, plans to begin classes in Monday morning, as usual. The meteorite shower broke more than 1,500 windows with an overall area of 5,000 square meters in the building, Alexander Shestakov, the rector of the university told Itar-Tass. It is planned to mend all of them by Monday morning. Rescuers have already plugged all the holes in the walls, thus keeping the rooms warm. According to preliminary estimates, about 53 million roubles will be needed to completely repair the building.

The biggest damage was done to the Chelyabinsk zinc plant, where the meteorite shower caused a partial collapse of the outer wall and roof. The plant is located near a motorway, so the ruins attract attention of drivers. Some come here on purpose – to make a photo of this apocalyptic sight. The local traffic police had to install a round-the-clock post here to regulate the traffic.

Sports events that were suspended because of the natural calamity have been resumed. Thus, men’s volleyball teams from the Urals and Siberia finally finished their interrupted tournament on Sunday.

Meanwhile rescuers from the Russian emergencies ministry are inspecting potentially hazardous facilities that were damaged in the meteorite shower. According to a spokesman for the local emergencies department, a total of 122 such facilities have already been checked.

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