diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/GeoRSS.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/GeoRSS.js
index dbc9ac647b..dc47920b3b 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/GeoRSS.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/GeoRSS.js
@@ -223,9 +223,11 @@ OpenLayers.Format.GeoRSS = OpenLayers.Class(OpenLayers.Format.XML, {
      */
     getChildValue: function(node, nsuri, name, def) {
         var value;
-        try {
-            value = this.getElementsByTagNameNS(node, nsuri, name)[0].firstChild.nodeValue;
-        } catch(e) {
+        var eles = this.getElementsByTagNameNS(node, nsuri, name);
+        if(eles && eles[0] && eles[0].firstChild
+            && eles[0].firstChild.nodeValue) {
+            value = eles[0].firstChild.nodeValue;
+        } else {
             value = (def == undefined) ? "" : def;
         }
         return value;