Man, I just don't know where you folks are getting your information, but it is worse than useless, it is wrong, flat wrong.

It doesn't matter what the source of the emf field is. It could be lightning, it could be a solar storm, it could be an ionizing atomic discharge, it could be someone forgetting to run the switchgear improperly at the substation. If the field exceeds the dielectric limits of the insulation in a transformer or a motor or just a plain old coil, or if it exceeds the PIV of a diode junction, then that device is going to fail. Once the insulation on a coil is breached, you essentially have a short circuit condition across the windings, and the first time a constant current is applied across that coil, it is going to either blow open at the short, or fry altogether in a catastrophic failure. Once the diode junction is punched, the semiconductor becomes just another resistor and the junction will fry and blow open. As for induced current, if the emf potential is not too high but is sustained long enough that a spurious current of sufficient size hits the coil or the forward biased diode, it can cause excessive current and thereby overheat the device and also result in a failure. EMPs aren't typically long dwell time events, but by their nature they can accumulate a current in a long wire network that results in a sustained current flow condition that can be just as bad as a solar storm.

It doesn't matter if a device is in circuit or sitting on a shelf in a bin somewhere. EMP and solar storms can and will fry the compnents just as quickly on the shelf. Longwire impulse won't be a factor out of circuit, but the excessive voltage will be. Sometimes even a faraday shield/screen/cage isn't sufficient to protect the component. The surest protection for any component is to have as close to an infinite ground on all the leads as close to the component as possible. The ground will shunt the induced voltage and current. It still may not be enough, but it is your best chance at saving electronic components. That means the component has to be out of circuit. Barring that, a deep and well grounded Faraday cage is your next best chance.