Cultural heritage is not only seen as a sector that needs protecting in times of a disaster but also as a source of strengths for the communities and individuals. There is however very little understanding on the actual contributions of cultural heritage towards capacity development; little is also known about cultural heritage as a potential source of vulnerability. Based on a case study of the Racha region in Georgia, this paper explores the potential role of heritage through the lens of vulnerabilities and capacities as understood by the local people, and presents the views of the local population on their cultural heritage. It demonstrates that tangible and intangible dimensions are intertwined and highlights that cultural heritage cannot be seen in an exclusive manner devoid of its larger environmental, political, social and economic contexts if we are to understand the relationship between cultural heritage, capacities and vulnerabilities.

文化遗产不仅被视为发生灾难时需要保护的部门，而且还被视为社区和个人的力量之源。但是，对于文化遗产对能力发展的实际贡献知之甚少；对于文化遗产作为潜在脆弱性来源的了解还很少。基于佐治亚州拉查地区的案例研究，本文通过当地人理解的脆弱性和能力来探索遗产的潜在作用，并提出当地居民对其文化遗产的看法。它表明，有形和无形的维度是交织在一起的，并强调指出，文化遗产不能以排他性的方式看待，因为它没有更大的环境，政治，文化和文化特征。