Missing Kirkland man on vacation in Philippines found alive

ROCHESTER -- The sister of a missing Kirkland man who went to the Philippines for his 50th birthday before Friday's devastating typhoon is alive and well, his family said.

Gregg Anderson called his sister Dianna Schneider late Monday to tell her he survived the typhoon that is estimated to have killed about 10,000 people.

Anderson, who was spending his 50th birthday on the coast with a friend, was air-lifted by the Filipino Air Force from the town of Samar and taken to Cebu. From there, he is waiting to get a flight to Manila before he heads home.  Anderson said his friend and his friend's girlfriend are also OK.

"He is the happiest person in the world right now," Schneider told Q13 FOX News Monday.

Other members of the Filipino community in the Pacific Northwest are waiting to hear whether their relatives are OK. The Filipino Community Center is working with officials overseas to gather a list of survivors and plans to post it to its website, which you can find here.

Comcast is now making the Filipino Channel available free to customers in Washington state through next Monday, Nov. 18. The channel is available on Xfinity TV channel 241. A list of recorded survivors is available on the channel.