diff --git a/pygeoapi/provider/elasticsearch_.py b/pygeoapi/provider/elasticsearch_.py
index eeebdea..cd4eb2d 100644
--- a/pygeoapi/provider/elasticsearch_.py
+++ b/pygeoapi/provider/elasticsearch_.py
@@ -136,6 +136,9 @@ class ElasticsearchProvider(BaseProvider):
             LOGGER.debug('ES index looks generated by GDAL')
             self.is_gdal = True
             p = ii[self.index_name]['mappings']
+        except IndexError:
+            LOGGER.warning('could not get fields; returning empty set')
+            return {}
 
         for k, v in p['properties'].items():
             if 'type' in v: