"mere damage" is a correct phrase and can be used in written English.
It is often used to describe damage that is insignificant or minimal in comparison to other forms of damage. Example: The storm caused mere damage to our roof, but our neighbors' homes were completely destroyed.
Cheema, choosing an entertaining method which went well beyond mere damage limitation, more than trebled the score with Zubin Surkari for the sixth wicket.
He was a fearless bucking bronco of a forward who with ease and great delight tore through teams at will to ensure their challenge became one of mere damage limitation.
It smacked of mere damage limitation, which was just about his and United's best option at that point.
A cynical reading of "Reputation" — and the one I find myself leaning toward the more I listen to this excellent record — suggests that the love songs constitute mere damage control in Swift's bumpy transition to pop avenger.
In their view, the innocent lives lost would be mere collateral damage".
In warfare, the destruction of heritage was long considered mere collateral damage.
As it is, our dedicated, blue-collar soldiers are mere "collateral damage" in the view of our decision makers, and the kids on campus can party on.
Manafort contends he is mere collateral damage in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election.
Zainab Bangura, the UN's special representative on sexual violence in conflict, said conflict-related rape was no longer considered "a marginal issue, an inevitable by-product of war or mere collateral damage.
Goldstone, however, used the account of the air strike as a sign that Israel's attack on the mill was not mere collateral damage, but precisely targeted and a possible war crime.
Of course, Godzilla has form in battling other monsters, but for me, it puts the humans in danger of being mere collateral damage, looking and feeling irrelevant in this great big skyscraper-wrecking punch-up of the mega-behemoths.
