Mike Jacka started at T+T shortly after graduating as a geotechnical engineer and his passion for understanding the ground was evident from the start.

As an earthquake engineer, Mike’s committed wholeheartedly to understanding how, why and where liquefaction occurs, mitigating its effects through foundation design and increasing seismic resilience.

His technical expertise, along with his personal motivation to find solutions, profoundly benefited Canterbury’s recovery efforts following the region’s 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.

Mike’s competencies saw him play a key role in the technical analysis which informed Government land zoning decisions and the MBIE foundation guidance for liquefiable soils.

An important part of Mike’s work in Canterbury was meeting with communities and professional groups to explain the science of earthquake engineering and the technical background for decisions around recovery planning.

His contributions were recognised with the awarding of a Queen’s Service Medal in the 2013 NZ New Year Honours.