Richard Berger of West Seattle

When Richard Berger heard about the massive earthquake in Pakistan this fall, the first thing he did was ignore it.

"The problem was so large I couldn't get my head around it."

He couldn't think about 3 million people facing a Himalayan winter without shelter. So he started shrinking it down. He thought about tents. He thought about what a mule could pack up a steep trail. He thought about what one person could do. Then he thought about survival blankets.

A friend, an avid climber, once told Berger that the human body can live for weeks without food, days without water. But chilled to the core, the body goes into shock. It becomes susceptible to pneumonia.

Berger, a former gallery owner, drove to the flagship REI store and bought several blankets. He took them home, tore at them, set them on fire, stood out in wind and rain with them wrapped over a T-shirt.

Then he called the manufacturer of the most durable blanket, and they found a way to bring the $5.50 blankets down to $1 each. Berger asked Mercy Corps, a relief agency, if it would distribute the blankets in Pakistan. And he e-mailed 250 friends, asking for donations. DHL heard about it, and shipped some for free. As of Tuesday, he had raised more than $100,000 to send about 110,000 blankets to Pakistan.

"I had no idea this would work. There's a tremendous number of caring people that, given the opportunity to respond, will step in."

Sharon Pian Chan, Seattle Times staff reporter