MARICOPA, Calif. - A magnitude-5.1 earthquake struck in Kern County on Saturday and could be felt as far away as downtown Los Angeles, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The quake struck at 12:18 p.m. and was centered about 13 miles east of Maricopa and 25 miles south-southwest of Bakersfield, according to a preliminary report from the U.S. Geological Survey.

Several small aftershocks between 1.6 and 2.4 in magnitude hit Saturday afternoon, said Joe Franck, a seismologist with the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Dozens more aftershocks were expected in the next few days.

"We expect to have aftershocks with an event of this size ... but nothing we can feel," Franck said.

At Tina's Diner off the main highway that runs through Maricopa, 83-year-old Larry Hickerson was eating an egg breakfast when the quake rattled his table for about 30 seconds.

"We were sitting here in the restaurant and she just shook us pretty good here. It wasn't a long one, it was just two or three jolts," he said. "The water shook a bit."

Though the quake didn't knock anything off the walls at her mobile home, "They're all scary," said Nelda Floyd, 60, who felt it as she was preparing dinner. "I'm just waiting on the damned San Andreas (fault). That's right here in our back door practically."

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, dispatch supervisors with the Kern County sheriff's department and fire department said. A spokesman for the Los Angeles city fire department said he received no damage reports.

Maricopa is about 85 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles and 25 miles west of Interstate 5, California's main north-south route.