Meteorite touches down in peru, who else heard?

Question

I was watching national geographic channel and i heard about this meteorite that touch down in peru late last year. The scientists didn't believe it at first until they went to the site and saw the crater for themselves. I'm wondering if that comet was too small that no telescopes discovered it until a couple of people saw it cutting through the skies that day. How concern should we be about this? Does anybody else think we can protect ourselves from a huge meteorite or asteroid? Why are news like this kept in secret and only told couple months after or in a documentary? Luckily for us the meteorite landed in a clear opening and not a well populated area. I think we need to be warned when stuff like this is cutting through the skies so we can act quickly, so there won't be any or little casualties. Click link to see for yourself:-

http://space.newscientist.com/channel/solar-system/comets-asteroids/dn12704-mysteries-remain-over-peru-meteorite-impact-.html

Answer 1

There are thousands of meteorites that hit our atmosphere everyday.  Many of them are no bigger than the size of your hand and usually burn up before they hit the surface.  There is a possibility that we were unable to detect it.  This was a good question here.  You can try to ask this question in astronomy and you may get an answer from an astronomer or a student in this science that could give you a more detailed answer.

http://www.nasa.gov/offices/meo/outreach... this site may give you some info on this.