Think about this question carefully.
Imagine you are sat before a judge and asked the question, will termites kill a tree, yes or no?
I know I only have 2 options to vote for because I want to force a definative yes or no, no maybe's or depends on bla bla bla. For instance, we know many other ailments that will kill a tree, no doubt about it, so lets open it up but force you into a corner at the same time.
Live trees fail with termites present, so do dead trees, in this definition we are looking beyond failure as the cause of death ... in other words, if the tree were propped and suspended
would the termites end up killing the tree from their activities?
If you know entomologists and termite experts now is the time to call them in.