See EarthSky for more details on the Perseids.
Large asteroids or meteors that hit Earth, or burn up in the atmosphere (called air bursts), hit us a lot more often than we realize. We have been very lucky that almost none of these have hit metropolitan areas, or else the death toll could be staggering. There is also the fear that such an air burst or asteroid hitting a major city could be mistaken for a nuclear attack and could prompt retaliation against some innocent nation.
The best known air burst in recent times is the Tunguska event in Russia in 1908. More recently, Russia got hit again at Chelyabinsk in 2013, where many buildings were damaged.
Keep looking up, but you may not be able to do a thing about it if it's heading right for you! So enjoy life while you can!!
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