Is There a “Preparation A” for Asteroids?

I started hearing some rumblings at work about an potential asteroid strike a few decades out, so I got curious — one of the worst things for me! — and started looking around.

Sure enough, space.com is reporting “Asteroid With Chance of Hitting Earth in 2029 Now Being Watched ‘Very Carefully’“. That someone found one doesn’t surprise me — that’s happened before. That the risk is actually getting more solid is a bit weird — admittedly, the risk has gone from 0.3% to 2.2%, but still…..

So, how big is it, and how much damage could it do? It’s about a quarter mile long — bigger than the one that made Meteor Crater (photos) — and would do considerable local or regional damage. It’s not a dinosaur-killer though, and that’s good news.
However, it would make a mess of somewhere on the planet assuming it hits land. I’ve always heard that a large body hitting water would be far worse than it hitting land, with large, regional, tsunami-like effects.

Obviously, the potential human tragedy could be far, far worse than that seen in the recent tsunami, depending on a gazillion factors.

On the bright side, if it hits land, the sunsets will be beautiful for years…. And I might get more snow here!