I think the biggest concern, if this or one like it were to hit the Earth, is how governments would react to the impact/explosion. For instance, if it would have hit the US, Russia, or China, particularly near a population center. This could very easily be mistaken for a blast from a nuclear weapon. SAC/NORAD would probably be able to figure out that it was a big rock from space, but what about some of the other members of the nuclear club? Actually, there are dozens of multi-kiloton explosions in our atmosphere every day. Discovery had some neat time-lapse photos. One of the things that much of our detection system is set up for is descriminating between real launches, blasts, and meteor events.
One of the things that much of our detection system is set up for is descriminating between real launches, blasts, and meteor events.Our system could do this, but what about the other nuclear nations? They Western European countries probably can, but there is a lot of left over East German quality radar equipment in the Asian and former Soviet areas. China, Russia, and possibly North Korea, can at the very least take out our West Coast.