The author might have unintentionally misremembered the scene. He might have intentionally exaggerated. Or perhaps your memory isn't what it used to be. But even if the author was incorrect in his summary of the movie, the point still stands that movies tend to sensationalize disasters, and many people without any prior acquaintance of disasters get their impression from popular media.

I agree that exaggeration has no place in good research, but your particular criticism, even if valid, does not affect the truth of the larger claim. Anyone of us can easily think of a large number of disaster movies that exaggerate out of proportion.

Now, if some of the larger claims made in the chapter are wrong, I'd love to hear them for the sake of my own preparation. I don't think one slip up automatically means the rest is junk.