No wonder, meteor strikes shake areas of Earth both uninhabited and inhabited by different people including those with MS. This time, I was there and then as I reside in the town of Chebarkul 80 km (48 miles) west of Chelyabinsk (a big industrial city with over million inhabitants), the Urals region, Russia.

Last Friday, my town became world-wide known before I turned off my TV. In the past, if asked about where I lived, I would cautiously answer ‘I am from Chelyabinsk’ and never say ‘I come from Chebarkul’ since it more than often required long deliberate explanations as for what part of Russia I meant. Things have changed dramatically thanks to a meteorite flying by.

That morning, I was having breakfast when a blinding flash from outside caught my eye. Then I heard a heavy blast followed by minor chaotic ones that sounded like fireworks. Closer to the centre of the scene, people had other, indeed sharper feelings – the explosions smashed windows. Yet, were those fireworks in the morning?! Hmm… Neither it was a nuclear explosion, otherwise I wouldn’t have had time to think all about that. Maybe, industrial malfunction? Thus, kind of calmed down, I finished my tea and had a visitor for two hours and only then a friend of mine phoned and made me smell the coffee with the stunning “Meteorite!”

I wouldn’t say cell phones stopped working then, however, I had difficulty reaching my relatives. My sister who lives in Chelyabinsk told me that they had two windows broken in their apartment. Thank Heaven – no casualties, though severe cuts and traumas. One of meteorite debris plunged into Chebarkul lake, which is about a mile off my place. The falling meteor left a 6 meter (20 feet) crater in the ice. This made the lake famous almost immediately. Although nothing was found in the crater and on the lake bed by divers on the next day, parts found nearby have been confirmed to belong to the meteorite. The first ever found was named ‘Chebarkul’.

The fame does not lead to pleasure alone. My friends and I have had to answer quite a few questions as if we were movie stars. One of the friends quite bothered with lots of ‘how?’, ‘why?’, ‘what about the meteorite in the lake?’, when asked for an umpteenth time, composed and replied ironically: ‘Oh, yes! The falling meteorite broke through the lake ice, stuck there with the upper huge part seen for observers, while around it the lake water is boiling!’ Sure, he kidded them and us adding that, on hearing that, people would rush to Chebarkul like crazy to witness the picturesque comer from the universe trapped in the ice…

Now all joking apart. We were about to convene for the World MS Day 2013 in Chebarkul. It is a lucky coincidence or providence. My colleagues knowing that I cannot go far from home agreed to organise a WMSD event near my town. After the meteor visit, nobody is doubting now that had been the wisest decision ever. Well, Heaven pointed to Chebarkul, didn’t it?

Many people in Russia and beyond will be happy to come and see our meteorite land, the lake (Chebarkul is a Turkic word meaning ‘beautiful lake’) and, I dare hope, to hold a great event for the WMSD. Dr Yan Vlasov, President of the All-Russian MS Society, agreed that there might arrive more participants for the WMSD in Chebarkul than originally expected. It could be a short notice, but we would really like to welcome our overseas colleagues, for which there is a weighty reason: ‘Meteorites and other space objects don’t fall to earth very often, do they?’

Pavel Zlobin

All-Russian MS Society