Ha! Yeah, I think that's part of the "poetic license" part of the dramatization.

One other thing that I thought was informative and rarely discussed was the "fog of war" aspect of many emergencies. When you're in some disaster, often you only know what you can see and hear around you. Even months later, the main characters didn't know what was happening in the rest of the country or world until they eventually could get some info from someone with access to Amateur (HAM) radio.

I didn't think the gossip factor was really emphasized enough, although mentioned. I mean, look at Katrina or even the beginnings of the H1N1 outbreak in Mexico and how lack of good information created all kinds of anxiety and fear and actions based on that anxiety and fear. That could cause a lot of problems, short and long-term, that otherwise wouldn't happen if it weren't for "bad intel". Unfortunately, not a whole lot you can do about that in many/most situations, but at least it's something to keep in mind.