  Four dimensional supergravities may be the right framework to describe
particle physics at low energies. Its connection to the underlying string
theory can be implemented through higher dimensional supergravities which bear
special characteristics. Their reduction to four dimensions breaks
supersymmetry whose magnitude depends both on the compactifying manifold and
the mechanism that generates the breaking. In particular compactifications,
notably on a $S_1/Z_2$ orbifold, the breaking of supersymmetry occuring on a
hidden brane, residing at one end of $S_1/Z_2$, is communicated to the visible
brane which lies at the other end, via gravitational interactions propagating
in the bulk. This scenario has been exemplified in the framework of the $N=2$,
$D=5$ supergravity. In this note, motivated by the recent developments in the
field, related to the six-dimensional description of the supergravity theory,
we study the $N=2$, $D=5$ supergravity theory as originating from a $D=6$
supergravity which, in addition to the gravity, includes a number of tensor
multiplets. This reduces to $N=1$, $D=4$ supergravity in a two step manner,
first by Kaluza-Klein reduction followed by a $S_1/Z_2$ orbifold
compactification. The resulting theory has striking similarities with the one
that follows from the single standalone $N=2$, $D=5$ supergravity, with no
reference to the underlying higher dimensional $D=6$ supergravity, and a
structure that makes the supersymmetry breaking mechanisms studied in the past
easily incorporated in higher dimensional schemes.
