diff --git a/Modules/MPI/MPIConfig/src/otbMPIConfig.cxx b/Modules/MPI/MPIConfig/src/otbMPIConfig.cxx
index 7f588f978239c85b4489ae960439920fd421ef43..12a777129b0ccf2f1f8ea168310f0f7e8837868a 100644
--- a/Modules/MPI/MPIConfig/src/otbMPIConfig.cxx
+++ b/Modules/MPI/MPIConfig/src/otbMPIConfig.cxx
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ MPIConfig::Pointer MPIConfig::Instance()
 
 /** CreateInitialize MPI environment */
 MPIConfig::MPIConfig()
-  :  m_MyRank(0),
+  :  m_MyRank(-1),
      m_NbProcs(0),
      m_abortOnException(true),
      m_initialized(false),