Deadline Feb. 2 for Quake-Related Jobless Benefits in Virginia

People in five counties and the city of Fredericksburg who lost jobs as the result of a powerful Aug. 23 earthquake face a deadline this week.

The Thursday deadline is to file for disaster unemployment assistance. Besides Fredericksburg, residents of the Culpeper, Fluvanna, Goochland, Orange and Spotsylvania counties are also eligible.

The assistance is intended for unemployed workers who live or work in the designated disaster area and are not covered by state unemployment insurance programs.

The federally funded assistance was made available by the major disaster declaration announced in November by President Barack Obama.

Applications can be filed at Virginia Employment Commission offices.

The magnitude 5.8 earthquake was centered in Mineral and rumbled up the East Coast.