MALE , Maldives ( CNN ) -- The new president of the Maldives wants to relocate -- his entire country . Much of Male , capital of the Maldives , was flooded following the 2004 tsunami . Mohamed `` Anni '' Nasheed , a former political prisoner , was sworn in Tuesday after he unseated Asia 's longest-serving leader in the country 's first multi-party elections two weeks ago . He inherits an island nation with several problems . Foremost among them : the very likely possibility that the Maldives will sink under water if the current pace of climate change keeps raising sea levels . The Maldives is an archipelago of almost 1,200 coral islands located south-southwest of India . Most of the islands lie just 4.9 feet ( 1.5 meters ) above sea level . The United Nations ' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has forecast a rise in sea levels of at least 7.1 inches ( 18 cm ) by the end of the century . The island was badly hit by the December 2004 tsunami , which killed an estimated 273,800 people and left thousands missing across Asia and Africa . In the Maldives itself , at least 82 people were killed and 26 unaccounted for from a population just over 270,000 , according to the Maldives Disaster Management Center . Sixty-nine islands were completely flooded and a further 30 islands half flooded . The capital of Male was also flooded , although sea walls protected it from further devastation . The government has calculated that creating a similar barrier around the rest of the country would cost too much . Watch Maldives president vow to save the nation . » . And so the tourist nation , which has white sandy beaches that lure well-heeled Westerners , wants to set aside some of the $ 1 billion a year it receives from tourism and spend that money on buying a new homeland . `` We will invest in land , '' Nasheed said . `` We do not want to end up in refugee tents if the worst happens . '' Nasheed 's government has said that it has broached the idea with several countries and found them to be `` receptive . '' Lands owned by Sri Lanka and India are possibilities because the countries have similar cultures , cuisine and climate as the Maldives . Australia is also being considered because of the vast unoccupied land it owns . Climate change is not the only challenge the new president will have to tackle , though . Other thorny issues include rising unemployment , corruption and a staggering drug epidemic . By some estimates , one of every three Maldivian youth uses drugs . Maldivians also worry that their tiny secular nation of 370,000 Muslims could fall prey to the reach of Islamic radicals . A bombing in Male , attributed to Islamic extremists , wounded 12 tourists in September 2007 . `` We have made many pledges , '' Nasheed said in his inaugural address . `` The citizens gave their majority vote to us to implement these . '' Nasheed said he will work to bring affordable housing and medical care for everyone . Twenty-one percent of the population lives below the poverty line . Nasheed , a 41-year-old one-time journalist , was among the fiercest critics of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom , who came to power in 1978 and ruled the Maldives for 30 years . He won the six previous elections as the only candidate on the ballot . Nasheed contended that Gayoom ruled with an iron fist , crushing dissent , amassing wealth and stacking his administration with friends and relatives . Gayoom 's critics say his government enforced a system of 'apartheid ' tourism that banned most Maldivians from nearly 90 luxury resorts . Shortly before election day , an auditors ' report said that millions of dollars were improperly accounted for by Gayoom 's government . He disputed the findings . Nasheed was arrested several times in the last 15 years and held as a political prisoner . Five candidates challenged Gayoom for the presidency in elections held on October 9 . Gayoom said he needed a seventh five-year term to see through the reforms he put in place . But critics said Gayoom instituted democratic reforms -- and legalized political parties -- only after violent protests in 2004 and 2005 . Nasheed and Gayoom ended up in a runoff -- with Nasheed winning 54 percent of the votes to Gayoom 's 46 percent in the October 28 race . `` No other citizens in the world in modern times have changed a 30-year-old regime so peacefully , '' Nasheed said in address . As the clock struck 12 a.m. Tuesday , Gayoom quietly exited the presidential office . `` I deeply regret any actions on my part ... ( that ) led to unfair treatment , difficulty or injustice for any Maldivian , '' he said in a farewell speech . `` From anyone who had had to face any such unfair treatment , difficulty or injustice , I sincerely seek forgiveness . '' Maldivians took to the streets in a celebration that carried into the wee hours of the morning . Residents danced to the beats of local bands and feasted on rice and mutton . They decked the cobbled roads of Male with the red-and-green flag of the Maldives and the yellow banner of Nasheed 's Maldivian Democratic Party . `` We can not believe that this is happening . I have spent more than half my life in exile in Sri Lanka , '' said Nasheed 's close confidant Mohammed Naseem . Journalist Sumon K. Chakrabarti in Male and CNN 's Saeed Ahmed in Atlanta contributed to this report .
Newly sworn - in Maldives president vows to buy land to relocate entire population . Climate change - The Indian Ocean islands could sink under rising sea levels . Maldives is considering land in Sri Lanka , India and Australia . Island was badly affected by tsunami of 2004 , with more than 100 people dead or missing .