tearing down vs devastation

tearing down and devastation both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
tearing down	Yes	No	No	No
devastation	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, devastation is a hypernym of tearing down; that is, devastation is a word with a broader meaning than tearing down:

tearing down: complete destruction of a building
devastation: the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists

Other hypernyms of tearing down include destruction.

tearing down (noun)	devastation (noun)
complete destruction of a building	the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists
	plundering with excessive damage and destruction
	an event that results in total destruction
	the feeling of being confounded or overwhelmed
	the state of being decayed or destroyed