How to quickly destroy houses?
Solution 1:
- Stock up on belief before you start
- Activate a Totem somewhere out of the way
- Resculpt the land underneath houses to destroy them, then replace the land after the huts are gone
People will flood out of the destroyed houses but won't start building new houses - they will go to the totem! Once you're ready for them to rebuild, deactivate the totem.
Don't do too many houses at once, people get sick while worshipping, if you take too long they'll all die when you deactivate the totem!
Solution 2:
The two ways that I know of that you can use to destroy houses are
move the ground from underneath them like you have mentioned before
use the god power finger of god, this can be used to destroy houses though it doesn't last to long.
There are other god powers that can be used to destroy things though they normally lead to a small trail of destruction behind them which may not be your desired effect, though if it is you could always use something like a meteor strike